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GIFT   OF 
A.   F.   Morrison 


SEBAGO-WOHELO 
CAMP  FIRE  GIRLS 


From  an  original  portrait  photograph  by  Gertrude  Kasebier. 

CHARLOTTE    VETTER   GULICK 


From  an  original  portrait  photograph  by  Alice  Boughton. 

HIITENI 
Mrs.  Gulick  in  Camp  Fire  Ceremonial  Gown 


The  Camp  Fire  Girl 


Sebago-Wohelo 
Camp  Fire  Girls 


BY 


ETHEL  ROGERS 


WITfl  Atf  INTRODUCTION  BY     \ 
MRS.   LUTHER  HALSEY  GULICK 


a 


BATTLE  GREEK,  MICHIGAN 
GOOD  HEALTH  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

1915 


//S33  53 


Copyright,  1915,  by 
Mrs.  Luther  Halsey  Gulick 

Copyright,  1915,  by 
Good  Health  Publishing  Co. 


•     •  • 


•  •    •    •  • » 


GIFT  Of 


fh 


This  Book  Is  Dedicated  to  all 
mothers  and  daughters,  in  the 
hope  that  it  will  make  the  way 
simpler  for  them  to  have  the  best 
of  times  together,  and  so  bind 
them  more  closely  in  the  common 
interests  of  the  home. 


ivi95603 


A 


Primitive  Woman 


CONTENTS 

Introduction 13 

The  Call 27 

The  Answer 29 

Building  the  Fires 37 

The  Freedom  of  Camp 46 

The  Threefold  Flame 58 

Camping  in  the  Mist 73 

Mastering  the  water,  and  Primitive 

Cooking 92 

Canning  and  Camping 106 

Every  Tent  a  Song 115 

Camping  in  the  Rain 132 

The  Blazed  Trail 149 

In  Case  of  Accident 161 

Douglas  Hill 180 

Marketing  Day 195 

Mermaids  on  Parade 210 

"Fire's  Gwine  Out" 228 

Kee-wee's  Good  Night  Song  ....  247 
Symbolic  Names  of  Sebago-Wohelo 

Camp  Fire  Girls 248 


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INTRODUCTION 


Ek-o-le-da 


INTRODUCTION 

T^ROM  the  time  Dr.  Gulick  and  I  were 
A  married  we  agreed  that  in  all  things  our 
first  consideration  should  be  for  our  children — 
where  we  should  live,  and  how  we  should  live, 
were  to  be  decided  by  what  seemed  best  for 
them. 

So  we  went  camping  the  summer  before  the 
first  child  was  born,  and  we  have  camped  every 
summer  for  twenty-seven  years,  with  but  two 
exceptions,  when  we  were  in  Europe. 

Vividly  I  remember  those  outdoor  experi- 
ences, but  especially  that  first  summer,  lived 
not  only  for  ourselves,  but  for  the  child  com- 
ing to  us.  I  found  the  best  selection  of  kin- 
dergarten songs  to  be  had  and  learned  every 
song  in  the  book.  I  used  to  sit  by  the  water's 
edge  for  hours,  singing  to  the  guitar  and 
dreaming  of  the  life  that  was  to  be. 

All  our  outdoor  life  has  been  associated 
with  music.  For  twenty  years  we  camped  on 
the  Thames  River  near  New  London,  Con- 

13 


INTRODUCTION 

necticut.  There  we  invited  friends  and  rela- 
tives to  c&mj)  nearby.  One  summer  there 
were  seventy-five  people  about  us  in  family 
groups.  And  every  looming  we  all  met  to 
sing.  Sometimes  we  gathered  around  a  fire, 
according  to  the  weather;  but  unless  it  rained 
we  met  out  under  the  sky,  and  sang  sometimes 
for  hours  at  a  time.  Our  favorites  were  some 
of  the  immortal  old  hvmns.  If  I  could  ask 
those  who  made  that  group  what  they  now  re- 
member of  those  summers  with  the  greatest 
pleasure,  I  believe  that  most  would  speak  first 
of  the  singing  together. 

Our  children  grew  up  with  the  freedom,  the 
vigor  and  the  joy  that  this  outdoor  life  gave. 
We  tried  many  experiments.  Some  summers 
we  had  helpers  to  do  the  work  of  the  camp 
and  care  for  the  children.  But  we  soon  found 
that  when  we  camped  alone  and  worked  to- 
gether, life  had  a  richness  and  sweetness  that 
was  lacking  when  the  tasks  were  done  for  us 
and  opportunities  for  services  were  reduced 
by  paid  helpers. 

I  have  always  believed  that  necessary 
work  could  be  made  interesting  if  imagina- 
tion, insight  and  affection  are  brought  to  it. 
Even  the  humblest  task  you  can  imagine  be- 

14 


INTRODUCTION 

comes  a  challenge.  The  system  of  honors  now 
used  by  the  Camp  Fire  Girls  was  developed 
largely  from  this  idea  as  we  worked  it  out  with 
our  children  in  camp. 

When  we  lived  without  helpers  we  lived, 
too,  more  spontaneously.  Seldom  were  all 
three  meals  of  the  day  eaten  in  the  same  place. 
In  such  little  ways  we  made  life  a  daily  ad- 
venture. 

When  the  impulse  came  we  sailed  away  on 
the  Sound  for  a  cruise — just  ourselves  and 
the  children — to  share  whatever  trials  of  en- 
durance or  emergencies  or  dangers  or  pleas- 
ures might  come. 

Our  family  learned  the  ways  of  boats  and 
of  wind  on  the  water.  They  learned  prompt- 
ly to  co-ordinate  thought  with  action,  and 
many  lessons  of  judgment  and  resourceful- 
ness. 

The  children  also  became  acquainted  with 
the  beaches  and  islands  along  both  shores  of 
the  Sound,  places  associated  for  them  with 
many  events  of  treasured  memory.  Again  and 
again  we  revisited  these  favorite  spots,  which 
they  had  learned  to  love  because  of  some  va- 
riety of  shells  found,  or  the  surf  bathing  af- 
forded, or  it  might  be  for  a  dozen  other  things. 

15 


INTRODUCTION 

By  the  time  the  eldest  of  the  five  was 
twenty  and  the  youngest  nine,  outsiders  be- 
gan to  discover  in  the  older  children  the  value 
of  their  experience.  They  were  in  demand  at 
summer  camps,  for  they  knew  how  to  do 
things. 

So,  to  keep  our  family  together,  we  had 
to  start  a  camp  of  our  own — and  face  new 
problems.  We  wanted  to  have  our  children 
learn  in  camp  various  hand-crafts,  that 
called  for  expert  paid  instructors,  and  we 
wanted,  besides,  to  give  them  the  human,  so- 
cial experience  of  entertaining  a  group  of 
their  friends — both  projects  beyond  our 
means.  So  a  plan  for  the  sharing  of  expenses 
was  formulated,  and  in  this  way  Sebago- 
Wohelo  was  started.  It  is  told  in  the  story 
how  we  got  our  name. 

This  name,  "Wohelo,"  I  gave  to  the  Camp 
Fire  Girls  with,  at  first,  a  sense  of  deep  per- 
sonal loss.  It  was  the  name  of  my  camp,  and 
my  daughters  and  camp  girls  felt  that  it  was 
personal,  sacred.  Before  they  could  see  the 
reasonableness  of  it  I  had  to  explain  what  it 
might  mean  to  have  thousands  of  girls,  instead 
of  merely  the  few  who  gathered  with  us  in  the 

16 


INTRODUCTION 

summer  time,  trying  for  a  balance  of  Work, 
Health  and  Love  in  their  lives. 

The  camp  is  now  six  years  old,  and  no  two 
summers  have  been  quite  alike.  One  year  I 
had  the  wish  that  these  girls  who  come  to  me 
should  know  the  joys  of  cooking,  and  learn 
to  meet  with  patience  and  good  cheer  its 
hardships.  I  wanted  them  to  think  and  dis- 
cover by  living  in  this  primitive  way,  how  this 
part  of  woman's  work  can  be  simplified,  and 
the  drudgery  turned  into  a  stimulating  exer- 
cise of  talent. 

I  think  that  woman's  work  is  inherently 
far  more  fascinating  than  man's.  It  has,  for 
example,  the  greatest  variety.  To  let  it  be- 
come monotonous  is  just  stupid.  We  must 
think  as  deeply  and  profoundly  about  it  as 
men  do  about  their  work,  to  make  it  as  inter- 
esting and  as  successful.  There  is  nothing  in 
man's  world  to  be  compared  in  its  possibili- 
ties for  rich  living  with  the  creation  and 
maintenance  of  a  beautiful  home  and  the  care 
of  a  child  from  babyhood  till  it  is  ready  to 
face  the  world  alone. 

So  that  summer  I  taught  my  camp  girls 
the  fun  of  cooking,  and  the  drudgery  con- 
nected with  it.    Under  a  talented  guide  they 

17 


INTRODUCTION 

did  all  the  cooking  and  dish-washing  for  a 
month,  and  learned  many  important  things. 
It  was  soon  discovered,  for  instance,  that 
there  was  more  romance  and  pleasure  in  eat- 
ing the  evening  meal  informally,  in  true  camp 
fashion,  than  in  sitting  formally  at  a  table. 
So  supper  committees  were  appointed  to  seek 
new  and  varied  places  to  eat,  and  the  equip- 
ment was  limited  to  a  cup  and  spoon — which 
each  washed  at  the  water's  edge. 

It  soon  fell  to  the  committee  to  arrange 
entertainment  for  the  evening  as  well.  This 
was  not  obligatory,  but  was  esteemed  a  privi- 
lege, and  the  more  enterprising  often  gave  us 
most  delightful  surprises.  What  a  group  of 
bright  girls  banded  together  can  think  of  and 
execute  in  an  impromptu  way  is  astonishing. 
Indeed,  I  can  imagine  an  engaging  and  serv- 
iceable book  written  on  this  phase  of  camp 
life  alone. 

I  was  amused  and  pleased  the  next  sum- 
mer to  be  faced  with  a  miniature  rebellion 
when  we  began  the  season  with  the  former 
custom  of  serving  supper  at  table.  They 
loved  the  simpler  way,  as  I  did,  and  we  re- 
turned to  it  for  good.  But  we  could  not  have 
learned  this  except  by  doing  the  work  our- 

18 


INTRODUCTION 

selves,  as  we  did  that  summer,  and  so  learning 
the  joy  of  it. 

It  was  much  the  same  with  the  hand-crafts. 
I  felt  that  two  hours  of  each  morning  in  this 
work  was  not  too  much  for  the  well-being  of 
the  girls,  but  at  first  I  was  not  sure  of  the 
willing  response  that  I  felt  to  be  more  im- 
portant than  the  work  itself.  The  work  was 
therefore  not  made  obligatory,  although  the 
two-hour  period  was  provided.  My  fears 
were  unfounded.  As  the  interest  of  making 
things  with  their  fingers  caught  them,  it  be- 
came my  problem  to  hold  their  enthusiasm  in 
check. 

In  all  things  that  we  did  I  have  required 
that  the  girls  should  really  want  them  before 
they  were  granted.  Only  a  wholehearted  re- 
sponse would  make  it  worth  while.  If  there 
was  less  than  that,  either  the  thing  was  less 
appealing,  and  therefore  less  essential,  than 
I  had  believed,  or  else  it  had  been  imperfectly 
presented. 

One  day  I  heard  a  group  discussing  the 
Nature  walks.  "Oh,  dear,"  said  one  girl,  "I 
don't  want  to  go." 

Next  morning  I  announced  that  the  Na- 
ture walks  were  discontinued,  and  explained 

19 


INTRODUCTION 

that  unless  the  girls  really  wanted  them  there 
was  no  place  for  them  in  our  camp;  that  to 
know  one  bird  or  one  tree  and  love  them  meant 
more  than  to  know  all  the  birds  and  trees  of  the 
forest,  and  that  what  I  wanted  for  them  was 
a  love  for  life  about  them. 

Of  course  there  was  a  prompt  protest  from 
the  girls,  who  really  did  love  the  walks.  But 
when,  after  an  interval,  the  frequent  tramps 
were  resumed,  they  were  not  formally  labelled 
as  Nature  walks,  but  were  just  impromptu 
excursions. 

So,  too,  with  our  water  sports.  The  bath- 
ing hour  is  not  merely  a  jolly  frolic.  It  is  not 
even  merely  a  time  for  learning  to  swim  well 
enough  to  meet  emergencies.  It  is  always  a 
step  in  the  direction  of  further  achievement, 
and  the  daily  goal  is  held  always  in  mind. 

Has  a  girl  mastered  the  breast  stroke? 
She  eagerly  sets  about  the  task  of  learning 
three  more  standard  swimming  strokes,  so 
that  at  the  weekly  Council  Fire  she  may  stand 
before  her  sisters  to  receive  the  red  honor  bead 
that  is  a  token  of  her  achievement.  She  is  not 
content  till  she  has  won  another  bead  by  fetch- 
ing bottom  from  eight  feet  of  water. 

20 


INTRODUCTION 

So  she  grows  in  fearlessness  and  bodily- 
control  through  the  carefully  graded  steps 
that  carry  her  to  mastery  in  aquatics,  always 
stimulated  to  constructive  effort  by  a  desire 
for  progressive  achievement.  That  is  a  very 
different  thing  from  the  usual  pleasant  pad- 
dling and  splashing  about  called  "a  swim," 
and  its  results  are  not  even  comparable. 

My  own  is  a  case  in  point,  and  since  this 
is  so  personal  an  introduction  to  the  story  of 
Sebago-Wohelo,  I  may  mention  it  somewhat 
particularly. 

I  learned  to  dive  after  I  was  thirty-five 
years  old.  I  am  told  that  to  master  the  co- 
ordination of  one's  muscles  in  a  new  feat  such 
as  this,  is  usually  very  difficult  after  one  is 
thirty.  So  my  achievement  of  the  simple 
straight  dive  greatly  elated  me,  and,  with 
new-found  confidence,  I  set  out  to  win  new 
accomplishments.  Each  year  I  kept  my  reso- 
lution to  learn  some  new  muscular  feat,  and 
two  years  ago  I  achieved  the  more  difficult 
back  dive.  It  has  meant  a  great  deal  to  me — 
more  even  than  the  reawakened  sense  of  bod- 
ily elasticity  and  control,  and  a  new  and  joy- 
ful physical  fearlessness. 

21 


INTRODUCTION 

I  am  reminded  often  of  Emerson's  signi- 
ficant lines: 

"To  vision  profounder 
Man's  spirit  must  dive." 

There  is  to  me  a  spiritual  reaction  from 
the  exultant  exercise  of  one's  body  in  such 
feats  as  these. 

Learning  to  dive  has  helped  me,  too,  in  fel- 
lowship with  my  camp  girls.  It  has  helped  me 
to  don  the  ceremonial  gown,  and  be  one  with 
them  around  the  Council  Fire. 

My  experience  has  a  moral,  too;  an  obvi- 
ous one,  perhaps,  but  pertinent.    It  is  this: 

Only  by  effort  can  we  learn,  though  in 
making  the  effort  we  may  learn  a  great  deal 
that  we  were  not  trying  for.  As  long  as  we 
keep  trying,  we  keep  growing,  and  so  long 
as  we  are  growing,  we  are  one  with  all  the 
youth  of  the  world. 

I  believe  deeply  and  earnestly  that  spirit- 
ual health  and  development  is  a  direct  corol- 
lary of  bodily  vigor  and  control;  that  the  joy 
that  comes  from  the  exercise  of  efficient  mus- 
cles has  its  counterpart  in  the  soul;  that  to 
exercise  the  one  is  to  exercise  the  other. 

Upon  that  rock  has  Wohelo  been  built, 

22 


INTRODUCTION 

and  its  use  of  symbols  is,  perhaps,  more  than 
anything  else,  a  working  and  ever-present 
declaration  of  the  spiritual  values  inherent  in 
all  the  humblest  phases  of  our  everyday  life 
in  the  world. 

So  in  all  the  activities  of  camp  we  have 
striven  to  make  them,  not  only  a  symbol  of 
the  big  things  in  after  life,  but  a  miniature 
epitome  of  that  life,  seen  with  loving  vision 
and  attacked  with  courage  and  devotion.  Be- 
cause we  believed  that  life  was  beautiful  we 
have  tried  to  give  a  beautiful  preparation  for 
it,  to  awaken  unquenchably  a  sense  of  its  in- 
finite significance. 


m 


23 


Su-no-wa 


SEBAGO-WOHELO 
CAMP  FIRE  GIRLS 


'I  must  go  with  the  pull 
That  has  hold  of  my  heart' 


THE  CALL 

MARGARET  BRADSHAW 

rpHERE'S  a  great  wild  pull 
A     That's  come  into  my  heart, 
Like  the  pull  of  the  wind  on  the  sea. 
There's  a  far,  far  call, 
Flute-sweet  and  small, 
Like  the  song  of  new  sap  in  the  tree. 

There's  a  restless  joy, 

And  a  glad,  dull  ache, 

And  a  longing  to  understand 

The  meaning  that  lies 

In  butterflies, 

And  sunsets,  and  stars,  and  sand. 

For  the  spring  has  bloomed 

In  a  goldeny  mist 

Of  willow  buds,  sap  and  tears, 

And  the  fleecy  sky 

Gives  promise  shy 

Of  the  "country  that  knows  no  fears." 

27 


m  m  m  n  b  ©  ss^se^  in 

And  my  heart  feels  tied 

And  calls  out  to  be  free, 

For  it  longs  for  the  woods  and  the  earth, 

And  a  fire's  soft  light 

In  the  velvet  night 

When  dreams  dare  bloom  to  birth. 

I  must  go  with  the  pull 

That  has  hold  of  my  heart ; 

I  must  touch  the  warm  earth  and  be  free. 

And  I  have  no  choice 

But  to  follow  the  voice 

Of  the  haunting  joy-to-be. 


Can-su 


THE  ANSWER 

T^OR  five  summers  The  Call  of  the  Camp 
has  been  answered  by  a  group  of  eager 
girls,  who  come  each  year  to  the  shores  of  Lake 
Sebago,  and  go  home  two  months  later  with 
a  bit  of  the  lake  in  the  very  hearts  of  them. 

"Wohelo!     Wohelo! 
How  we  sail  over  Lake  Sebago's  waters  blue! 

Wohelo!    Wohelo! 
Our  days  with  you  are  far  too  few!" 

they  sing  in  the  long,  happy  days  as  they  pad- 
dle over  the  clearest  of  waters,  singing  softly, 
and  with  mist-dimmed  eyes,  as  the  summer 
draws  to  a  close.  But  it  is  of  more  than  the 
lake  that  they  are  singing,  though  it  is  a  spot 
lovely  enough  to  be  crystallized  into  song  for 
itself  alone.  The  trees,  the  birds,  the  moun- 
tains, the  morning  mist,  the  sunset  sky  and  the 
soft  twilight  —  all  of  these,  and  more,  are  in 
the  song! 

29 


Sebago  is  so  little  that  you  can  love  it, 
and  yet  so  large  as  to  suggest  dreams  of  long 
mysterious  journeys  toward  the  mountains, 
which  rise  bluer  and  bluer  on  the  sunset  side 
— dreams  that  become  real  in  the  form  of  en- 
chanting camping  trips  as  the  summer  goes 
by.  It  is  safe  for  canoeing,  and  just  over  in 
the  cove  where  the  birches  grow,  the  beach  is 
shallow  and  soft  enough  for  any  child;  while 
near  shore,  where  the  great  rocks  plunge  down 
almost  perpendicularly  into  the  deep  trans- 
parent water,  one  may  find  all  the  joys  of 
swimming  and  diving  that  the  bravest  may 
desire.  And  about  it  all  is  the  cool,  invigor- 
ating breath  of  the  northland,  fanning  energy 
and  vigor  into  every  pulse  of  life. 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  CAMP 

As  the  girls  have  camped  together  sum- 
mer after  summer,  under  the  inspiring  leader- 
ship of  a  mother  whose  mother-love  was  great 
enough  to  reach  beyond  her  own  little  circle 
of  daughters  and  make  all  of  the  girls  of  the 
camp  her  own,  they  have  thought  out,  lived 
out  and  made  real  a  new  and  beautiful  dream, 
more  precious  even  than  the  lake  and  the 
wholesome  outdoor  life  which  is  its  gift. 

30 


The  camp  had  no  name,  no  forms  or  tradi- 
tions. But  the  love  of  meeting  around  the 
open  fire  grew  slowly  into  a  poetic  ceremony, 
for  which  the  girls  donned  a  special  garment, 
fashioned  simply,  as  those  of  the  Indian 
maidens  who  lived  in  the  woods  before 
them.  They  studied  the  stories  and  art  of  the 
Indians,  and  learned  to  love  to  express  the 
poetry  of  the  life  about  them  in  the  work  of 
their  hands,  with  nature  as  their  guide  and 
inspiration.  They  developed  the  spirit  of  real 
campers,  paddling  their  own  canoes,  carrying 
their  own  packs,  building  their  own  fires  and 
cooking  their  own  meals,  if  necessary,  and 
came  to  find  a  joy  in  this  life  that  luxury  and 
idleness  could  never  give.  They  learned  also 
to  work  and  play  in  teams,  to  paddle  together, 
sing  together,  tent  together,  stand  by  one  an- 
other through  rain  and  shine — and  so  the  spirit 
of  loyal,  devoted  comradeship  was  born  among 
them. 

THE  MYSTICAL  WORD 

All  of  these  things  their  leader  had  desired 
with  a  great  longing  for  her  girls,  and  she 
sought  for  a  name  that  should  express  the 
ideals  for  which  the  camp  was  striving. 


Those  who  gathered  about  the  camp  fire 
had  chosen  symbolic  names,  expressing  in 
beautiful  form  the  desires  of  their  individual 
lives.  Hiiteni,  "Life,  more  Life,"  was  the 
leader's  name,  very  true  to  her  spirit  of  eager 
reaching  out  for  new  fields  of  beauty  and 
worth.  The  girls  chose  names  for  themselves 
in  the  same  way. 

But  for  long  the  camp  had  no  name. 
Names  that  seemed  to  express  the  thought  in 
the  heart  of  the  founder  failed  in  beauty.  At 
last  it  came  to  Hiiteni  that  the  things  for 
which  she  wished  it  all  to  stand  in  the  hearts 
of  the  girls  were  expressed  in  the  words, 
Work,  Health  and  Love;  and  that,  by  com- 
bining the  first  two  letters  of  each  of  these, 
she  could  make  a  new  word,  "Wohelo," 
lovely  in  sound  and  full  of  the  meaning  she 
wished.    The  camp  was  named  Wohelo. 

THE  GIFT  OF  SEBAGO-WOHELO 
CAMP 

So  the  life  and  ceremonial  and  watchwords 
that  are  now  known  to  girls  all  over  the  land 
through  the  Camp  Fire  Girls  of  America 
grew  out  of  the  life  of  this  first  Wohelo  camp. 

33 


0  H  m  E2  B  ©  S3SftSSS2  ED 


"Along   the   road  that  leads   the   way 
We  follow  as  it  will" 

They  were  a  gift  from  Hiiteni  and  her  girls 
to  all  girls,  gladly  given  at  the  request  of  those 
who  were  organizing  a  new  society  for  girls. 
There  are  now  many  camps  called  Wohelo, 
and  the  one  on  the  shores  of  the  lake  in  Maine, 

34 


m  ?k=  §1  g  0  ©  m 

to  distinguish  itself  from  the  rest,  has  come 
to  be  known  as  Sebago-Wohelo.  It  is  now  a 
Camp  Fire  center,  for  every  girl  who  comes 
becomes  a  member  of  the  Sebago-Wohelo 
Camp  Fire,  and  the  camp  is  ever  following 
into  new  realms  the  goal  of  its  great  desire, 
working  out  new  ways  of  doing  the  things  that 
girls  all  over  the  world  are  longing  to  do. 

It  is  with  a  desire  to  share  these  ideals,  and 
whatever  has  been  done  toward  their  attain- 
ment, that  this  story  is  written.  How  often, 
when  long  vacation  days  bring  joy  and  happi- 
ness, do  the  words,  "I  wish  that  you  were  with 
me!"  find  a  place  in  letters  written  to  dear  ones 
at  home,  springing  from  a  sincere  desire  to 
share  with  those  beloved  the  gifts  of  heart 
and  spirit  which  the  days  bring. 

This  is  a  part  of  the  message  of  the  story 
of  Sebago-Wohelo  camp — a  real,  personal 
message  to  Camp  Fire  Girls  everywhere,  and 
if  all  cannot  come  to  the  shores  of  Lake  Se- 
bago  it  may  be  that  something  of  the  life  of 
the  camp  can  be  shared  with  them.  The  glow- 
ing, living  coals  from  that  Camp  Fire  have 
been  carried  far,  and  new  fires  have  been 
lighted,  and  it  may  be  that  still  others  will 
spring  up  to  carry  the  Camp  Fire  spirit  of 

35 


m  m  m  n  m  ©  gg^saraas  m 

Work  and  Health  and  Love  to  the  shores  of 
other  lakes  and  bays  and  rivers,  into  deep  for- 
ests and  open  prairies,  and  so  into  the  homes 
of  the  girls  who  dwell  there,  that  by  its  light 
they  may  be  led  to  find  new  beauty  and  joy 
in  simple,  common-place  things,  new  love  in 
service.  To  the  girls  in  these  other  camps  the 
girls  of  Sebago-Wohelo  are  singing  a  cheer. 
Can  you  see  them,  standing  there  together  on 
the  great  rock  above  the  water? 

"Oh,  we  cheer,  cheer,  cheer — 

Sebago-Wohelo ! 
Oh,  we  cheer,  cheer,  cheer — 

Sebago-Wohelo ! 
Oh,  we  cheer,  cheer,  cheer — 

Sebago-Wohelo ! 

Oh,  our  comrades, 

We're  singing 

To  you!" 


Woh-do-ke-ca 


86 


II 

BUILDING  THE  FIRES 

/^NE  of  the  songs  that  Sebago-Wohelo 
^-^  maidens  love  to  sing  begins: 

"There  is  a  spot  'way  up  in  Maine 
They  call  Wohelo-he; 
It's  full  of  girls  both  short  and  tall 
And  just  like  you  and  me — " 

and  if  any  girl  doubts  the  truth  of  that  she 
should  have  been  one  of  the  crowd  of  girls, 
with  a  sprinkling  of  councilors  scarcely  less 
girlish,  who  came  to  camp  in  the  summer  of 
1914.  They  came  in  a  "sleeper,"  but  did  they 
sleep?  Just  about  as  much  as  you  or  I  would 
have  done  in  their  places! 

To  be  sure  they  did  not  talk.  Oh,  no!  Pos- 
sibly two,  who  had  been  "dearest  friends"  the 
summer  before,  and  had  not  seen  each  other 
since,  may  have  crept  into  the  same  berth  and 
whispered  a  few  little  croonings  of  delight  in 
the  joy  of  being  together  again.  Perhaps 
some  of  them  may  have  "wondered  out  loud" 

37 


B  U  ®  0  0  ®  S3£ft£g&2  m 

"if  the  lake  is  still  there?",  "if  it  will  look  just 
the  same?"  and,  "how  could  it  possibly  be  a 
whole  year  since  they  had  broken  camp!" 
Among  those  who  had  not  been  of  the  camp 
the  year  before  were  some  who  came  from  the 
same  school,  and  these  were  glad  to  meet 
again,  and  may  have  spoken  once  or  twice. 
Girls  will  be  girls.  But  it  would  be  unfair  to 
say  that  they  talked. 

Some  had  conspicuous  boxes  of  candy 
that  had  been  given  to  them  before  leaving, 
and  seemed  strangely  eager  to  devour  every 
piece  at  once.  An  impression  had  gone 
abroad  that  candy  was  not  allowed  in  camp, 
and  they  had  best  eat  it  while  they  might. 
One  girl  confessed  that  she  had  eaten — was  it 
ten? — dishes  full  of  ice-cream  the  day  before, 
supposing  there  would  be  no  such  treat  in 
camp.  Little  did  she  know  of  the  Saturday 
expeditions  to  the  neighboring  village,  and  cer- 
tain little  pasteboard  boxes  with  tin  spoons 
stuck  temptingly  in  the  top,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  great  freezer  which  inhabits  the  camp 
kitchen. 

Morning,  and  Portland,  found  a  sleepy- 
eyed  but  eager  group  of  girls,  ready  for  break- 
fast and  the  ride  on  another  train,  which  pres- 

38 


ently  brought  them  to  the  dock  to  take  the 
busy  little  steamer  across  Lake  Sebago.  It 
was  nearly  noon  when  the  trip  was  over  and 
the  steamer  brought  them  to  the  dock  at 
camp. 

5VELCOME! 

These  Sebago-Wohelo  maidens  did  not 
come  to  an  unstaked  camp  in  the  woods.  The 
fires  had  been  started  days  before,  and  a  joy- 
ous welcome  awaited  them,  with  everything  in 
readiness  for  their  comfort.  Some  of  those 
already  in  camp  had  been  working  during  the 
days  of  waiting,  others  had  been  resting,  en- 
joying the  stillness  of  the  woods,  disturbed 
only  by  the  whispering  of  the  leaves  and  the 
murmurings  of  the  waves,  which  now  was  to 
be  broken  by  happy  laughter  and  Cheer 
Songs. 

Those  who  gathered  on  the  dock  to  wel- 
come the  girls  were  dressed  in  white  middies 
and  blue  bloomers,  and  laughed  at  the  out- 
landish appearance  of  city  clothes,  and  poked 
fun  at  tight  skirts  and  high-heeled  shoes 
which  slipped  and  caught  along  the  rocky 
paths  leading  to  the  tents.  But  they  did  not 
laugh  long,  for  nearly  every  girl  had  bloom- 

39 


ers,  a  middie  blouse  and  a  pair  of  sneakers  in 
her  suit-case.  Soon  all  emerged  in  camp  cos- 
tume, with  hair  comfortably  down  in  two 
braids,  all  but  one  incorrigible,  who  left  hers 
in  the  french-roll,  and  for  days  held  to  this 
remnant  of  boarding-school  fashion.  City 
clothes  were  hung  in  the  loft  over  the  bunga- 
low, like  grinning  relics  of  a  by-gone  age. 
Later,  trunks  arrived,  and  the  girls  unpacked 
the  necessary  articles  to  be  kept  in  wooden 
boxes  under  their  beds.  Bundles,  which  had 
been  sent  in  advance  by  express,  were  opened 
to  make  the  beds,  which  each  girl  did  accord- 
ing to  her  taste,  some  with  regulation  sheets 
and  pillow  cases,  while  others  found  gray 
blanket  sheets  quite  as  comfortable. 

As  they  worked,  busy  and  happy,  the  sun- 
set time  came  softly  down,  and  the  bustle  of 
camp  died  away  with  the  wind.  When  the 
bugle  sounded  a  whisper  went  abroad  that 
supper  would  not  be  served  in  the  bungalow, 
as  dinner  had  been,  but  at  Hiiteni's  fireplace, 
where  a  huge  boulder  rises  for  a  background, 
and  around  it  is  a  little  natural  orchestra  cir- 
cle enclosed  by  rocks  and  trees,  opening  up  in 
full  view  from  the  doorway  of  Hiiteni's  tent. 
Here  were  piled  long  pine  branches  for  the 

40 


m  m  m  a  h  ®  gssfs^sss  in 

fire,  while  from  the  great  rock  across  the  path, 
big  tin  cups  of  milk,  sandwiches  and  peaches, 
were  given  out,  with  great  pieces  of  the  deli- 
cious cake  that  was  to  become  a  most  welcome 
feature  of  all  the  camp  suppers. 

AROUND  THE  FIRE 

Cups  and  spoons  laid  aside,  all  drew  close 
in  the  gathering  darkness,  with  the  strange, 
new  stillness  all  about  them,  the  wind  astir  in 
the  trees,  and  the  red  flame  of  the  first  camp 
fire,  now  smouldering,  now  leaping  high  to 
reveal  their  faces  to  one  another.  The  new 
family  began  to  dream  dreams  in  the  firelight. 

But  the  dreams  were  not  all  the  same. 
Each  was  colored  by  the  home-life  that  had 
been  left  behind,  and  by  the  thoughts  and  pur- 
poses in  her  heart  that  had  led  its  owner  to 
camp.  One  had  come  because  her  health  was 
frail  from  overstudy;  another  because  she  was 
strong,  and  loved  the  water-sports;  another 
because  she  loved  the  quiet  of  the  woods ;  one 
had  the  soul  of  an  artist,  and  longed  to  excell 
in  the  craft-work,  while  others  came  just  seek- 
ing new  experiences.  Girls  with  dispositions 
as  varied  as  their  tastes,  differing  in  ages  from 
Wa-zi    and    Fuzzie,    the    dear    little    "Blue 

42 


Birds,"  up  to  the  college  girls,  some  of  whom 
were  numbered  as  councilors.  All  had  an- 
swered the  Call  of  the  Camp,  and  stepped 
lightheartedly  into  experiences  that  were  per- 
haps to  change  the  whole  current  of  their 
lives. 

NEW  FRIENDS  AND  OLD 
There  were  introductions  that  evening. 
Timanous  stood  high  on  the  rock  above  the 
fire,  and,  calling  the  councilors  one  by  one, 
made  them  stand  up  in  their  places  while  he 
told  "what  he  knew  about  them/'  and  a  great 
deal  besides  which  his  ready  humor  suggested. 
Woh-do-ke-ca,  the  camp  artist,  was  forced  to 
prove  that  she  had  other  accomplishments  by 
making  her  famous  "rabbit  face,"  and  Em- 
bers, the  poet,  was  introduced  as  an  ever-pres- 
ent help  to  one  who  wanted  to  get  into  mis- 
chief. Alaska  created  a  little  stir  of  excite- 
ment because  she  had  come  from  so  far  away, 
and  she  was  given  a  special  welcome  when  her 
magic  touch  upon  the  piano  became  known. 
Helpful  the  Great,  who,  as  his  name  indi- 
cates, was  one  of  the  most  valuable  of  the 
councilors,  smiled  his  droll,  half-embarrassed 
smile  when  it  was  published  that  he  was  a  fid- 
dler of  no  small  gifts,  and  Helpful  the  Little 

43 


m  m  u  n  b  @  ss?B£332  in 

was  introduced  as  one  having  power,  sounding 
the  bugle  that  rules  the  camp  with  its  melody, 
full  of  meaning,  if  not  always  of  beauty. 

OLD-TIME  CAMP  SONGS 

Later,  as  the  fire  burned  low  and  all  grew 
closer  in  the  mysterious  shadows,  Ce-ki-ca-ti 
led  in  some  of  the  old-time  camp  songs,  in 
which  those  who  had  been  in  camp  before 
joined  with  hearty  good  will,  while  those  to 
whom  it  was  all  new  listened  with  something 
of  sadness,  but  hummed  the  tunes,  resolving  to 
learn  the  words  as  soon  as  possible.  And  the 
songs,  with  the  smouldering  firelight  and  the 
lengthening  shadows,  whispered  to  those  who 
understood  of  a  time  when  the  camp  had  been 
one  at  heart,  and  gave  promise  of  happy  days 
before  them,  when  this  should  again  be  true, 
and  the  spirits  of  all  gathered  in  this  new  cir- 
cle should  be  blended  into  a  complete  union 
of  comradeship  and  love. 

All  the  while  the  fire  had  been  teaching 
its  own  lessons,  telling  its  own  stories,  and 
performing  real  introductions  of  heart  to 
heart. 

Those  who  have  sat  about  a  camp  fire  to- 
gether can  never  quite  forget  the  mystic  bond 

44 


0  SBftEg^fcS  §1GQ§I 

that  is  there  created  between  them.  For  the 
new  house  the  house-warming,  for  the  new 
home  the  hanging  of  the  crane,  and  for  the 
new  camp  the  first  burning  of  the  camp-fire. 


Ge-me-wun-ca 


45 


Namesakes 


III 


THE  FREEDOM  OF  CAMP 

A  SCAMPER  of  tiny  feet  across  the  floor, 
^*  a  crackle  and  crunch  of  sharp  little  teeth, 
then  scamper,  scamper  again  across  the  floor 
and  away  among  the  rocks! 

46 


These  were  the  sounds  that  woke  "The 
Chipmunks"  on  that  first  morning  in  camp. 
"Hush!  Don't  scare  him!"  whispered  Kee- 
wee,  the  councilor,  sitting  up  in  bed  with  a 
peanut  in  her  hand.  "Maybe  he'll  come 
again." 

And  presently  he  came,  a  dear  little  bright- 
eyed,  friendly  chipmunk,  making  swift  starts, 
stopping  to  listen,  then  darting  up  bravely 
with  a  flash  of  his  bright  brown  tail  to  seize 
the  coveted  booty  from  Kee-wee's  fingers — 
then  to  a  safe  distance  on  the  rock  outside  of 
the  tent,  where  he  shelled  the  nut  and  stuffed 
it  away  in  his  already  baggy  cheeks  as  fast  as 
possible. 

It  was  a  joyful  visit  from  the  tiny  native 
of  the  woods,  welcoming  the  girls  to  a  life  al- 
most as  free  as  his  own.  They  were  still 
watching,  with  eyes  almost  as  bright  as  those 
of  the  chipmunk,  when  the  bugle  blew  for  ris- 
ing, and  the  quiet  tents  about  them  were  all 
alive  with  a  buzz  of  voices.  It  was  time  for 
the  morning  dip,  and  if  the  youngest  girl,  who 
had  never  been  in  camp  before,  felt  a  trifle 
timid  about  the  cool  plunge,  she  was  soon 
laughed  into  going  with  the  others  for  the  lux- 
urious morning  bath  of  the  woods  and  lake. 

47 


Scurrying  out  with  toothbrushes  and  soap  in 
hand  "The  Chipmunks"  met  sleepy  figures 
in  bathing  suits,  flocking  down  the  path  to  the 
dock  from  the  other  tents.  There  was  just  a 
moment  of  shivering  and  waiting  for  each 
other  to  jump,  but  soon  the  water  was  all 
a-splash  with  girls,  and  a  few  moments  later 
they  were  hurrying  up  the  path,  glowing  with 
warmth  and  energy,  every  thought  of  sleepi- 
ness left  far  behind. 

"Oh,  I'm  so  happy!  I'm  so  happy!"  cried 
Wa-zi,  a  "Blue  Bird,"  clapping  her  hands  as 
she  ran,  voicing  the  feeling  of  all  in  her  child- 
ish ecstacy. 

MORNING  SONGS 

After  breakfast  in  the  bungalow  all  went 
to  the  craft  house,  where  every  morning  they 
met  to  sing.  The  girls  sat  Turk-fashion  on 
the  floor  facing  Hiiteni  and  Alaska,  who  had 
taken  her  place  at  the  piano.  Two  carefully 
selected  hymns  were  sung,  then  everyone  stood 
and  repeated  the  Lord's  prayer,  after  which 
they  sang  more  hymns  and  camp  songs  to 
their  hearts'  content.  It  was  difficult  to  stop 
singing.  Often  Hiiteni  allowed  the  singing 
hour  to  encroach  upon  craft-work  time.  Only 
those   who  have   experienced  the   peace  and 

48 


aspirations  that  come  after  such  a  meeting 
can  understand  what  starting  the  day  in  this 
way  means.  Singing  together  brings  a  con- 
sciousness of  unity,  and  makes  a  bond  of 
priceless  value. 

On  that  first  day  Ce-ki-ca-ti  sat  up  in  front 
with  a  flag  in  her  hand,  and  a  wise  grin,  which 
reminded  everyone  that  it  was  the  Fourth  of 
July,  and  suggested  that  something  was  go- 
ing to  happen.  Hiiteni  announced  the  plan  of 
celebration  for  the  evening,  in  which  each  tent 
was  to  present  an  original  drama  representing 
Freedom,  the  freedom  of  thought  and  action 
for  which  women  as  well  as  men  are  striving. 

Then  the  girls  were  invited  to  choose  songs 
they  wished  to  sing.  Various  patriotic  songs 
vied  with  the  old  camp  favorites,  "The  Lone 
Fish  Ball,"  "The  little  Tin  Soldier,"  and 
many  others.  Ce-ki-ca-ti,  with  a  mysterious 
air,  resisted  all  calls  for  "Old  Glory"  till  the 
very  end,  when  she  called  for  it  herself,  ask- 
ing to  have  the  last  stanza  sung  as  a  march 
while  the  girls  were  leaving  the  craft-house. 

It  was  a  game  of  "Follow  my  Leader," 
and  out  of  the  door  they  went,  hands  on  each 
others'  shoulders,  proclaiming  gaily  to  the 
world : 

49 


m  m  m  n  b  ©  sa^^ggs  eo 

"We  come,  we  come,  we  come, 
To  the  roll  of  the  rattling  drum!" 

and  wound,  in  as  even  a  line  as  they  could,  up 
over  the  rocky  path  to  the  tennis  court,  then 
round  and  round,  faster  and  faster,  breaking 
into  a  run  and  ending  at  last  in  a  grand  salute 
to  the  flag  that  hung  at  the  end  of  the  court. 

SWIMMING  TIME 

The  rest  of  the  morning  passed  quickly 
enough  in  an  introduction  to  the  tents  and 
their  dwellers,  from  far  and  high  "Heavenly 
Rest"  and  "The  Heavenly  Twins"  (two  tents 
on  one  platform)  to  "Kingfishers"  and  "Whip- 
poor-wills''  down  to  the  house  in  the  trees 
where  the  "Blue  Birds"  live. 

Before  one  could  realize  the  time  had  come 
for  the  swimming  hour,  and  a  crowd  of  happy 
girls  dashed  down  to  the  dock  to  wait  for  the 
welcome  call,  "All  in!"  from  Ti-ya-ta,  who 
was  in  command. 

An  unusually  large  number  of  the  girls 
could  swim  this  year,  and  there  was  a  clamor 
at  once  for  chances  to  take  the  hundred-yard 
test,  for  each  girl  knew  that  without  this  she 
could  not  enter  a  canoe. 

There  are  few  rules  in  camp,   but  those 

50 


M  S3ffittg3£ft  U  0  E3  0  ES  o 

governing  the  going  into  the  water  and  the 
coming  out  of  it  are  inflexible,  and  to  them  in- 
stant and  unquestioned  obedience  is  required. 
Not  even  councilors  are  allowed  in  canoes  un- 
til they  have  taken  the  swimming  test.  This 
is  not  only  a  safeguard  against  accidents,  but 
it  acts  as  an  incentive  for  girls  to  bend  every 
energy  to  learn  to  swim.  All  girls  want  to  go 
in  canoes,  so  naturally,  if  for  no  other  reason, 
they  learn  to  swim  as  soon  as  possible. 

He-ta-ya  and  one  of  the  twins  had  asked 
first  to  take  the  test,  and  one  after  the  other 
they  started  out,  close  beside  the  row-boat, 
which  moved  slowly  across  the  clear  water  to 
the  beach,  until  it  made  the  distance  at  last, 
and  a  cheer  went  up  from  the  dock. 

"Oh,  Wohelo!     Oh,  Wohelo! 
We  raise  a  song  to  you, 
For  we'll  ever  be  true 
To  the  white  and  the  blue, 
Oh,  He-ta-ya,  we  sing  to  you!" 

There  was  a  different  cheer  for  the  twin,  for 
Wohelo  maids  love  variety. 

"You  don't  know  what  a  wonderful  feel- 
ing it  gives  you,"  said  one  of  the  girls  after 

51 


she  had  taken  the  swimming  test.  "You  feel 
so  free  and  so  unafraid,  as  if  you  had  gotten 
the  lake  in  your  power!"  Both  cheers  were 
repeated  formally  at  dinner,  which  is  the  offi- 
cial time  for  cheers  of  every  sort. 

ROUTINE  OF  CAMP 

Dinner  that  second  day  was  served  beside 
Hiiteni's  fireplace.  There  was  a  great  kettle 
of  pilau,  which  is  a  mixture  of  rice,  chicken, 
and  tomatoes,  and  was  served,  with  other  good 
things,  on  paper  plates.  How  little  it  really 
requires  to  make  a  happy  meal!  Not  every 
banquet  is  eaten  with  half  the  zest  of  this  out- 
door dinner. 

After  dinner  came  rest  hour,  during  which 
the  girls  understood  that  they  were  expected 
to  be  quiet  in  their  tents,  though  reading  and 
writing  letters  were  allowed,  and  some  other 
things  happened  occasionally  that  were  not  in 
the  schedule.  At  three  o'clock  the  bugle 
sounded  again,  and  the  girls  assembled  for  the 
Saturday  afternoon  trip  to  the  village,  which 
ended  in  a  gathering  at  the  ice-cream  store  and 
the  happy  hour  of  mail  from  home. 

While  the  others  were  feasting  on  ice- 
cream,  Alaska  had  been   seen  triumphantly 

53 


waving  a  large  piece  of  tinfoil,  which  she  had 
captured  by  hook  or  by  crook.  Mysteries  were 
in  the  air  all  the  afternoon,  "The  Chipmunks" 
were  studying  a  typewritten  thing  that  looked 
like  a  song,  and  others  of  the  girls  spent  fever- 
ish moments  with  their  heads  together,  plot- 
ting the  evening's  performance.  When  they 
reached  camp  again  the  wise  ones  made  a 
quick  dash  for  the  properties  trunk  in  the 
bungalow  loft. 

THE  MAGIC  STAGE 

The  stage  was  the  tennis  court,  with  a  fire 
in  the  big  fireplace  on  the  farther  side,  and 
Japanese  lanterns  to  add  to  the  festivity. 
Alaska's  tinfoil  was  explained  when  her  girls 
appeared  with  silver  crowns  on  their  heads, 
and  vivid  costumes  of  red  and  blue  to  suit  the 
new  song  of  patriotism  which  they  sang.  They 
stood  high  on  the  rock  above  the  fire  with  the 
dark  trees  behind  them,  a  daring  bit  of  stag- 
ing that  thrilled  the  audience  below.  All  of 
the  other  scenes  were  given  on  the  tennis  court, 
within  the  circle  of  the  listeners,  who  changed 
places  from  time  to  time,  leaving  the  audience 
to  take  their  own  parts  on  the  magic  stage 
with  its  mysterious  shadows  and  shifting  lights. 

54 


m  s^^sas  u  m  g  0  0  m 

The  small  white  goat  which  Helpful  the 
Little  had  brought  with  him  from  the  city  was 
a  prominent  actor  in  several  of  the  scenes,  as 
he  had  become  a  great  favorite  in  camp. 

The  themes  ranged  all  the  way  from  Votes 
for  Women  to  affairs  in  Mexico.  But  through 
them  all,  from  "The  Chipmunks' "  dear  little 
song  to  "The  Heavenly  Twins' "  melodrama, 
in  which  the  good  knight  "Sanitas"  rescued  a 
Camp  Fire  Girl  from  the  power  of  candy,  so- 
das, ginger  ale  and  the  nightmare  of  patent 
medicines,  to  the  last  act  by  "Top  o'  the 
Rocks"  and  "Fawassa,"  in  which  "Work," 
"Health,"  and  "Love"  gave  the  freedom  of 
camp  to  the  Girl,  wound  a  thread  of  thought 
of  the  freedom  that  comes  from  health  and 
right  living,  which  makes  one  strong  to  do  and 
dare. 

"Candy,"  personified,  or  represented  by 
an  empty  box,  made  numerous  appearances 
on  the  stage.  Possibly  this  was  to  be  explained 
by  the  candy  incident  on  the  train,  and  a  talk 
that  had  been  given  in  councilors'  meeting  the 
next  day.  At  all  events  the  slavery  to  candy 
gradually  became  a  thing  unknown  in  camp, 
without  the  announcement  of  any  laws  or  pen- 
alties. 

55 


§IIG01§1  S3ft£?»  m 

After  the  girls  from  the  different  tents  had 
all  covered  themselves  with  glory  there  came 
a  call  to  the  craft-house  for  music.  The  Jap- 
anese lanterns  went,  too,  transforming  the 
rustic  porch,  a  fit  setting  for  the  strains  of  the 
"Song  of  the  Evening  Star,"  which  floated 
out  to  the  listening  figures  on  the  veranda 
floor  and  away  over  the  dark  water.  Then,  to 
crown  the  beauty  of  the  night,  a  great  raft 
appeared  and  slowly  burst  into  a  blaze,  a 
blaze  that  floated  and  floated,  fairy-like 
against  the  darkness,  till  the  watchers  drifted 
with  it,  far,  far  out  on  a  raft  of  dreams,  to 
lands  that  never  were. 


Ma-na 


56 


The  Blue  Bird's  Nest 


IV 
THE  THREEFOLD  FLAME 

CUNDAYS  at  camp  were  quiet  days,  with 
leisure  for  visiting,  reading,  writing  home 
letters,  taking  pleasant  walks,  or  paddling 
about  on  the  lake  in  happy  groups. 

But  no  two  days  in  camp  were  alike,  and 
this  first  Sunday  was  set  apart  from  all  oth- 
ers by  a  rare  talk  from  Timanous  at  the  morn- 
ing service.  It  wras  a  trifle  difficult  for  one 
who  had  known  Timanous  only  as  comrade 
and  leader  in  the  gaiety  of  camp  to  imagine 
him  in  the  character  of  preacher,  but  his  au- 
dience was  not  less  attentive  for  that  reason. 
The  girls  were  glad  to  sit  for  an  hour  at  a 
time,  and  scarcely  thought  of  being  tired  or 
cramped  when  Timanous  talked. 

His  theme  this  morning  was  an  invitation 
to  all  to  seek  the  key  to  these  new  sensations 
that  were  coming  to  them  each  day,  the  great 
inner  joy  which  lies  behind  every  little  touch 
with  Nature, — the  sound  of  the  waves  in  the 
stillness  when  one  wakens  in  the  night,  the 

58 


m  sBfi^sss  n  fa  n  0  m  m 

clinging  touch  of  the  water  when  they  gave 
themselves  to  its  clasp,  the  sun  in  the  spray, 
the  feeling  of  the  earth  on  bare,  wet  feet,  and 
the  glow  that  follows  the  morning  dip  when 
the  air  is  chill  and  bracing.  "The  key  to  it 
all,"  Timanous  said,  "the  nameless  something 
that  thrills  to  deepest  depths,  is  the  love  of 
God  at  work  through  his  world  of  nature." 
And  he  read  a  number  of  beautiful  poems, 
closing  with  St.  Francis's  noble  "Canticle  of 
the  Sun,"  which  made  the  heartstrings  vibrate 
to  this  note  of  loving  reverence. 

Timanous  returned  that  afternoon  to  the 
big  city,  where  the  work  of  the  great  Camp 
Fire  Girls'  organization  needed  him.  But  he 
had  set  the  imaginations  of  those  in  camp  to 
work  with  an  enthusiasm  that  promised  much 
for  their  understanding  of  the  first  law  of  the 
Camp  Fire,  "Seek  Beauty,"  and  they  were 
ready  for  the  fuller  explanation  which  Mon- 
day brought  of  the  plan  for  the  summer's 
work  and  play,  and  how  it  was  to  be  related 
to  the  poetry  of  life  as  well  as  to  the  prac- 
tical work  of  womanhood  by  the  Camp  Fire 
flame  of  Work,  Health  and  Love. 

Between  the  morning  service  and  the  craft- 
hour,  which  began  at  nine-thirty  and  ended  at 

59 


m  m  m  o  h  ®  ^;vE°s  m 

eleven-thirty,  there  was  usually  about  a  half- 
hour's  time  for  putting  tents  in  order  against 
the  coming  of  the  tent  inspector,  who  proved 
to  be  Ta-ku,  a  capable  young  college  girl 
whose  popularity  could  not  be  hurt  even  by 
this  unwelcome  position.  But  formalities  had 
not  yet  begun  on  this  first  Monday,  and  the 
morning  service  was  followed  by  a  short  talk 
on  the  craft-work  of  camp. 

CRAFT  WORK  AND  SYMBOLISM 

Woh-do-ke-ca  showed  paddles  decorated 
with  the  girls'  own  symbols,  carved  wooden 
spoons,  dainty  balsam  pillows,  and  some 
painted  wooden  boxes — these  last  promising 
to  be  the  fad  of  the  season.  Ce-ki-ca-ti  held  out 
glowing  prospects  of  silver  bracelets,  rings, 
and  other  jewelry  to  be  taken  home  in  the  fall, 
while  work  in  pottery,  weaving,  and  dyeing 
were  discussed,  and  vied  with  one  another  in 
kindling  anticipations  of  delightful  mornings. 
A  filmy  scarf  of  chiffon  bordered  with  a  wood- 
block pattern  in  salmon  pink  and  gray,  de- 
signed from  a  fungus  and  the  silver  bark  of 
the  birch  on  which  it  was  found,  suggested 
possibilities  for  the  interpretation  of  woodsy 
things  in  forms  fitted  for  use  as  well  as  beauty. 

60 


m  !i  grists  HG000 

Quite  naturally  after  this  came  Hiiteni's 
talk  about  the  symbolism  which  is  so  much  a 
part  of  Camp  Fire  life,  as  it  has  been  a  part 
of  the  lives  of  all  primitive  women  who  have 
woven  lovely  things  from  Nature's  materials 
with  Nature's  own  beauty  to  guide  them. 
"Every  Camp  Fire  girl,"  explained  Hiiteni, 
"is  expected  to  choose  a  symbol  of  her  own, 
to  express  in  artistic  form  that  which  in  her 
heart  she  most  wishes  to  be.  This  symbol  she 
is  to  use  in  all  of  her  craft  work,  just  as  the 
Indian  woman  wove  her  symbol  into  her  bas- 
kets, and  so  made  them  a  poetic  expression  of 
her  life."  The  form  of  the  symbol,  the  girls 
learned,  can  be  changed  to  suit  the  different 
materials  in  which  it  is  used. 

Then,  very  simply,  came  the  story  of  how 
this  symbolism  had  grown  up  in  the  camps  of 
other  years,  and  how  the  girls  had  been  helped 
in  their  plan  of  life  by  choosing  for  themselves 
names  as  well  as  symbols  for  use  in  the  Coun- 
cil Fire,  and  as  an  expression  of  the  ideals  that 
were  to  rule  their  lives.  Slowly,  in  all  its 
charm,  was  shown  the  plan  of  the  Camp  Fire 
Girls'  organization,  with  its  honor  beads 
awarded  for  achievements  in  the  seven  crafts, 
Home  -  Craft,   Health  -  Craft,   Camp  -  Craft, 

61 


Hand-Craft,  Nature-Lore,  Business,  and  Pa- 
triotism; and  its  rank  of  progress,  Wood-Gath- 
erer, Fire-Maker,  and  last  and  noblest,  Torch- 
Bearer,  the  rank  of  those  who  are  ready  to 
pass  on  to  others  the  light  which  they  have 
received. 

The  girls  ran  gaily  out  of  the  craft-house 
singing  a  little  song  Embers  had  taught  them, 
which  now  had  a  new  meaning: 

"Every  Camp  Eire  maiden  has  a  symbol 
all  her  own! 
Every    thought    and    feeling    by    some 
symbol  can  be  shown !  " 

But  under  the  gaiety  of  it  they  were  think- 
ing hard,  for  the  haunting  symbol-search  had 
laid  hold  upon  them.  The  whole  summer 
opened  before  them,  with  fascinating  oppor- 
tunities for  winning  honors,  especially  in 
health-craft  and  hand-craft. 

CEREMONIAL  GOWNS 

Perhaps  the  most  pressing  problem  of  all, 
for  the  time  being,  was  that  of  their  ceremonial 
costumes,  without  which  they  could  not  become 
Wood  Gatherers  or  even  enter  the  charmed 
circle  of  the  Council  Fire. 

63 


®  m  m  n  m  ®  isa^sa^ss  m 

Over  in  the  bungalow,  as  the  afternoon 
wore  on,  Mna-ka  fitted  the  girls  for  costumes, 
postponing  her  lessons  in  weaving  till  this  im- 
portant task  should  be  finished.  There  were 
yards  and  yards  of  khaki,  and  a  generous  pile 
of  brown  leather  skins  to  make  fringe  for  the 
gowns,  but  as  several  of  the  girls  had  not  even 
tried  to  use  a  sewing  machine  before,  it  was 
no  slight  task  to  transform  the  materials  into 
simple,  but  well-made,  gowns.  Mna-ka  cut 
them  all,  but  each  girl  made  her  own,  as  no  one 
wanted  to  miss  the  hand-craft  honor  for  doing 
so.  Ni-ma-ha,  who  had  never  tried  to  do  any 
sewing,  surprised  herself  and  the  rest  by  stitch- 
ing straighter  seams  than  many  an  older  girl. 

The  most  difficult  lesson  for  all  to  learn 
was  to  gather  up  their  materials  when  they 
had  finished  work.  As  the  cloth  was  all  alike, 
it  was  not  quite  safe  to  leave  one's  material  in 
the  bungalow  and  expect  to  find  it  in  the  same 
place  next  day.  The  exasperating  stuff  would 
disappear!  This  was  not  conducive  to  poetic 
feeling,  but  was  not  the  least  of  the  lessons 
of  Camp  Fire  for  all  that.  Nearly  all  of  the 
things  which  happened  at  camp  had  a  way  of 
teaching  valuable  lessons  without  seeming  to 

do  so. 

64 


NAMES  AND  SYMBOLS 

Meanwhile  those  who  were  not  busy  with 
their  costumes  were  besieging  Woh-do-ke-ca 
and  Embers  in  the  craft-house  for  help  in  the 
choice  of  names  and  symbols  to  express  the 
things  they  wished.  Sun-o-wa,  after  careful 
thought,  had  decided  that  her  desires  were  for 
music,  friends  and  happiness,  which  were  sym- 
bolized for  her  by  the  sunlight  on  the  water, 
sunshine  being  happiness,  the  sparkles  friends, 
and  the  water  music.  But  she  could  find  no 
name  which  would  combine  these  thoughts; 
she  was  in  despair  until  the  suggestion  came 
of  combining  parts  of  the  words  "Sun  on 
water"  to  make  the  name  "Sunowa."  One  of 
the  twins  chose  as  her  symbol  an  eagle  mount- 
ing toward  the  sun,  the  idea  being  to  seek  per- 
fection in  all  she  undertook,  and  she  was  strug- 
gling to  make  an  artistic  design  that  should 
combine  this  symbol  with  the  Indian  sign  for 
thought. 

Not  every  girl  knew  at  once  what  she 
wished  to  express  by  her  symbol,  but  as  the 
afternoon  shadows  grew  longer  several  went 
about  happily  telling  their  friends  that  they 
had  succeeded  in  the  search.  "I've  found  my 
symbol,"  one  gleefully  proclaimed,  "It's  the 

Go 


humming-bird,  and  it  means  finding  the  good 
in  everybody.  The  Indian  name  of  it  is  To- 
he-ha,  and  that's  my  name!"  Thoughtful 
Su-ni  was  just  as  happy  in  her  quieter  way 
when  she  had  found  a  symbol  for  her  name, 
which  means  "Doing  more  than  is  asked,"  a 
true  and  beautiful  expression  of  her  character. 

THE  FIRST  COUXCIL  FIRE 

While  the  girls  were  busy,  the  supper  com- 
mittee, which  happened  that  night  to  be  from 
one  of  "The  Heavenly"  tents,  had  planned  a 
little  surprise.  The  bugle  sounded  from  the 
dock,  and  when  the  girls  came  they  were  as- 
signed to  canoes  and  sent  out  on  the  lake,  to 
land,  they  knew  not  where.  Indeed,  they  did 
not  land  at  all,  but  ate  in  their  canoes,  with 
sandwiches,  milk,  and  cake  served  from  the 
launch.  Under  the  surprise  and  restfulness  of 
it  the  day's  excitement  died  away,  leaving 
quieted  spirits  for  the  first  Council  Fire  of  the 
year. 

It  was  held  on  the  tennis  court,  the  "old 
girls"  in  costume  forming  the  circle,  the  "new 
girls"  sitting  on  the  edge  of  the  woods,  drink- 
ing in  the  beauty  of  the  scene  with  rapt  atten- 
tion.   Many  of  them  now  saw  for  the  first  time 

66 


the  bringing  of  fire  from  wood  by  the  rubbing 
sticks,  as  it  was  done  in  early  days  by  the  In- 
dians. Ti-ya-ta  made  the  fire,  while  from  the 
circle  rose  softly,  like  a  breath  of  the  woods, 
an  old  Indian  melody — the  Fire  Song. 

"Keep  rolling,  keep  rolling, 
Keep  rolling,  keep  rolling!" 

swelling  with  the  triumphant  note: 

"Smoke  arises!    smoke  arises! 
And  the  smoke,  sweetly  scented!  " 

as  a  little  white  wreath  curled  slowly  from  the 
wood-dust  under  Ti-ya-ta's  hand.  All  the 
circle  shared  with  her  effort,  the  anxious  wait- 
ing, the  sweet  victory,  the  preciousness  of  the 
gift  that  in  modern  times  has  come  to  us  so 
easily  that  we  do  not  realize  the  part  it  plays 
in  our  lives. 

As  the  spark  was  caught  by  the  tinder, 
fanned  to  a  flame,  and  touched  to  the  waiting 
wood  in  the  great  fireplace,  the  girls  of  the 
circle  rose  to  sing  "Burn,  Fire,  Burn,"  with  in- 
terpreting motions,  while  those  in  the  woods 
listened  and  shared  the  poetry  of  this  primal 
experience — the  making  of  the   fire,   around 

67 


bMO 


~l 


which  woman's  home  and  woman's  happiness 
have  centered  since  the  great  gift  of  it  was 
first  given  to  the  world. 

The  ceremonial  was  continued  with  a  roll- 
call  of  those  who  had  been  in  camp  the  year 
before.  Following  this  two  Counts  were  read, 
one  by  Ti-ya-ta,  telling  of  the  journey  to 
camp  this  year,  the  other  by  Embers,  recount- 
ing something  of  the  events  that  had  taken 
place  before  camp  had  formally  opened — how 
the  goat  had  chewed  off  some  of  Kee-wee's 
hair,  and  how  four  girls  had  helped  to  shingle 
the  little  house,  Wakana  Hit  (house  of  In- 
spiration) built  for  Timanous,  that  it  might 
be  complete  before  he  came.  The  Count 
ended  with  the  story  of  the  week  of  rain  that 
had  preceded  the  girls'  arrival,  and  a  happy 
burst  of  welcoming  gladness: 

"On  it  rained,  as  if  the  sunshine 
Had  been  swallowed  up  forever 
By  the  great  gray- feathered  cloud  bird! 
Till,  like  Noah's  gorgeous  rainbow, 
Promise  of  the  sun  and  sunshine, 
Came  the  sound  of  merry  voices, 
Came  your  songs  and  happy  laughter. 
And  the  sight  of  you  brought  sunshine 

70 


To  the  world,  and  to  our  hearts,  too — 
Burst  the  sun  forth  o'er  Wohelo 
And  we  welcomed  you  together! 
No  more  lonesome,  no  more  silent, 
Now  Wohelo's  tents  are  happy, 
Sheltering  you  so  long,  long  absent; 
Now  the  rocks  are  no  more  voiceless, 
Ringing  with  your  songs  and  laughter, 
And  our  hearts  are  very  happy 
That  you  all  are  here,  my  sisters." 

Then  Hiiteni  asked  Alaska  and  the  guar- 
dian from  Kansas  City  each  to  tell  something 
of  their  Camp  Fires  at  home.  It  was  interest- 
ing to  hear  of  the  tireless  efforts  by  which  a 
camp  had  been  established  in  Kansas  City, 
and  thrilling  to  know  of  the  Camp  Fire  in 
far-away  Alaska,  where  the  girls  were  learn- 
ing to  brave  rain  and  snow  in  their  wet,  cold 
country  to  go  out  among  its  beautiful  mount- 
ains for  fun  and  health.  The  girls  realized  as 
never  before,  how  great  a  thing  it  was  to  be 
a  part  of  this  nation-wide  circle  of  girls  of 
which  they  had  that  morning  been  told. 

The  fire  was  flickering  low  when  they  rose 
and  circled  slowly  out  into  the  darkness  to  the 
strains  of  the  good-night    song,  "The  Sun  Is 

71 


m  m  m  n  b  ®  iss^^s  m 

Sinking  in  the  West,"  humming  softly  and 
more  softly  as  they  scattered  to  their  tents  and 
found  their  way  to  rest  in  the  darkness.  And 
one  heard  whisperings  from  those  girls  to 
whom  it  was  all  so  new  and  wonderful,  "Oh, 
isn't  Camp  Fire  splendid!  I  want  to  belong 
as  soon  as  I  can!" 


Kini-da-ka 


72 


V 
CAMPING  IN  THE  MIST 

"TITH  AT  is  the  matter  with  the  end-table?1' 
*  *  someone  whispered  at  dinner  on  Wed- 
nesday. Loh-ah  and  Kani-da-ka,  who  were 
waiting  on  the  end-table  that  day,  turned  rosv 
and  giggled  as  they  walked  to  and  from  the 
serving  table,  and  it  was  a  moment  before  any- 
one could  discover  the  reason  for  their  peculiar 
appearance.  "Oh,  they've  put  on  their  middies 
wrong-side  before!"  It  burst  upon  everyone 
at  once  that  the  end-table  was  nearly  choking 
in  its  heroic  attempts  to  be  original,  with  the  big 
square  collars,  that  should  have  been  behind, 
hanging  down  oddly  under  their  chins. 

"Babies — why — are — you  wearing  bibs?" 
chanted  Ti-ya-ta's  table  in  a  strong,  clear 
chorus,  talking  together,  as  the  girls  often  did 
in  camp. 

What  those  of  the  end-table  would  have 
replied  in  self-defense  no  one  knows,  for  at 
that  moment  Hiiteni  called  for  silence,  and 
made  an  announcement  that  drove  all  other 

73 


m  m  m  sa  s  ©  sa^sas  m 

thoughts  into  the  background.  She  asked  all 
of  the  girls  to  go  to  the  tennis  court  immedi- 
ately after  rest-hour,  taking  their  ponchos  and 
blankets,  to  learn  from  Ho-sa  how  to  roll 
these  for  a  camping  trip.  A  camping  trip! 
The  air  was  full  of  mystery  and  delight ! 

LEARNING  TO  MAKE 
A  PONCHO  ROLL 

When  they  reached  the  tennis  court  Ho-sa, 
with  Ge-me-wun-ac's  help,  was  cutting  ropes 
in  two  different  lengths,  and  distributing  them 
to  the  girls  as  they  arrived.  Ho-sa  was  one 
of  the  oldest  campers,  having  been  with  the 
camp  since  its  very  beginning,  and  was  wise 
in  all  its  ways.  She  went  about  her  work  to- 
day with  a  sphinx-like  deliberation  that  made 
one  feel  she  had  in  trust  some  vast  secret 
which  she  would  reveal  only  when  the  ap- 
pointed moment  should  arrive. 

By  her  direction  each  girl  spread  her 
poncho  wrong  side  up  on  the  tennis  court,  and 
laid  her  blankets  straight  upon  it.  One  or  two 
who  had  brought  small  ponchos  were  puzzled 
until  Ho-sa  explained  that  they  must  fold 
their  blankets  to  make  them  fit,  as  the  poncho 
should  extend  beyond  the  blankets  on  every 

74 


m  es^mss  u  fa  n  0  @  m 

side.  "Now,"  said  Ho-sa,  stooping  beside  the 
nearest  poncho,  "lay  your  nightgown,  and 
whatever  else  you  want  to  take  with  you,  near 
the  edge,  this  way,  and  then  roll  the  whole  as 
tightly  as  you  can,  from  the  side,  and  tie  it 
in  the  middle — so !  Be  sure  you  make  a  square 
knot,  or  it  will  come  undone,  and  spill  every- 
thing. Then  tie  the  longer  rope  around  one 
end,  not  too  near  the  end  or  it  will  slip  off, 
and  then  around  the  other  end,  holding  them 
together — so!  Now  you  are  ready  to  throw 
your  poncho  over  your  shoulder,  and  tramp 
away." 

She  slung  the  horse-shoe-shaped  roll  over 
her  shoulder,  and  walked  off  a  little,  looking 
so  very  camper-like  that  the  girls  could 
scarcely  wait  to  be  following  her  example. 
They  fell  to  work  on  their  own  ponchos,  work- 
ing in  twos  for  the  most  part,  because  they 
could  roll  the  bundles  more  tightly  by  working 
one  at  each  end.  Ho-sa  watched  them,  giving 
correction  or  advice  where  either  was  needed, 
and  meanwhile  explaining  how  to  make  their 
beds  when  the  camping  place  was  reached. 

"You'll  find  it  easier,"  she  said,  "to  sleep 
two  together,  using  one  poncho  on  the  ground 
and  the  other  over  you,  and  if  you  have  enough 

75 


®  Ull  E3  B  ^3  S»S  ID 

blankets  to  put  more  than  one  under  you,  it 
makes  your  bed  much  softer.  Pin  all  the 
blankets  together  around  the  edges  with  big 
blanket  pins,  clasping  them  through  the  eye- 
lets in  the  edge  of  the  poncho.  In  that  way 
you  make  a  big  sleeping  bag  into  which  you 
can  crawl  and  sleep  snugly  without  fear  of 
taking  cold  even  though  the  ground  is  damp 
or  the  dew  falls  heavily." 

"And  if  you  sleep  alone  how  do  you  make 
your  bed?"  asked  one  of  the  girls. 

"Oh,  you  just  fold  your  blankets  and  pon- 
cho over  all  together,  and  make  a  narrow  bag 
instead  of  a  wide  one.  Some  people  like  that 
better  than  'sleeping  in  twos.' ' 

But  most  of  the  girls  saw  delightful  possi- 
bilities of  chumming  in  the  first  plan,  and 
there  was  much  pairing  off  in  advance.  Any- 
one could  have  guessed  that  Pi-ki-da  and 
I-wa-da-ka  would  sleep  together,  for  theirs 
was  one  of  the  cases  of  inseparability  which 
had  been  evident  almost  from  the  first.  And 
they  began  to  plan  at  once  for  being  together. 
Ki-lo-des-da  was  heard  making  similar  ar- 
rangements with  Loh-ah,  and  Ti-ya-ta,  their 
councilor,  hastily  decided  to  make  her  bed  near 
theirs,  wherever  that  might  be.    "If  those  two 

76 


get  together  there  will  be  some  mischief  brew- 
ing," she  declared. 

LAUNCHING  THE  WAR-CANOE 

The  camping  trip  was  to  begin  on  Thurs- 
day afternoon,  and  the  girls  would  scarcely 
have  known  how  to  wait  patiently  if  some- 
thing had  not  happened  that  was  almost  as 
exciting  as  the  thoughts  of  the  prospective 
trip.  As  soon  as  the  ponchos  were  carried  back 
to  the  tents  the  bugle  called  the  girls  together 
to  go  to  Wohelo  Island  to  launch  the  war- 
canoe.  The  "old  girls"  shouted  with  delight, 
and  the  "new  girls"  thrilled  with  anticipation 
when  they  heard  of  a  large  canoe  in  which 
twelve  or  more  could  paddle  together,  and  of 
regular  drill,  with  fancy  strokes,  and  an  "All- 
Wohelo"  crew  to  be  picked  before  the  end  of 
the  summer. 

The  island,  where  the  war-canoe  had  been 
lying  high  and  dry,  waiting  for  its  summer 
playtime,  was  only  a  short  distance  across  the 
water,  and,  with  the  help  of  the  good  launch, 
"Red  Beak,"  and  canoes  for  those  who  were 
allowed  to  enter  them,  all  soon  reached  it, 
finding  it  a  pretty  wooded  spot  with  rocky 
shores. 

77 


m  issftsss  11  m  a  @  m 

After  a  scramble  through  the  trees  the  war- 
canoe  was  discovered,  and  with  a  cry  of  de- 
light the  girls  marshalled  themselves  around  it, 
placed  their  shoulders  under  the  sides,  and, 
with  Helpful  the  Great  sitting  reluctantly  on 
its  big  backbone,  carried  it  to  the  water's 
brink,  there  to  launch  it  with  shouts  of  glee. 

It  was  soon  manned  by  a  crew  and  swung 
away  to  the  rhythmic  tune : 

"Oh,  we  own  the  lake! 
Oh,  we  own  the  lake! 
Oh,  we  own  the  lake  the  people  say! 
Oh,  we  own  the  lake! 
Oh,  we  own  the  lake! 
W-O-H-E-L-O,  yea,  yea!" 

Instead  of  going  back  to  camp  the  girls 
were  kept  on  the  island  while  the  "Red  Beak" 
returned  to  bring  their  suppers  to  them.  The 
war-canoe  came  back  with  its  impromptu 
crew,  and  supper  was  served  from  a  lone, 
high  boulder  and  eaten  beside  a  roaring  fire. 
There  were  sandwiches  and  milk  and  mara- 
schino jam,  with  a  beautiful  birthday  cake  to 
crown  it  all,  for  it  was  I-ma-ga-ga's  birthday, 
and  the  candles  were  named  and  blown  out 

79 


m  m  m  n  b  m  ^^s  m 

with  proper  ceremony.  After  supper  the  "new 
girls"  were  required  to  entertain  the  "old 
girls"  with  stunts,  but  as  there  were  more  "new 
girls"  this  year  than  usual  they  showed  a  very 
independent  spirit.  Under  Te-ca-ya's  leader- 
ship they  worked  up  a  fine  charade  and  gave 
it,  but  firmly  refused  to  do  individual  stunts 
unless  the  girls  could  guess  their  charade.  But 
their  triumph  was  short-lived,  for  clever 
Ti-ya-ta  guessed  it,  so  the  girls  were  obliged 
to  tell  rhymes  and  jokes. 

This  was  the  first  of  many  Wednesday 
night  suppers  on  the  island,  which  came  to  be 
one  of  the  familiar  haunts.  But,  perhaps  be- 
cause this  was  the  first,  every  moment  of  the 
evening  was  keen-edged  with  delight,  and  the 
girls  were  reluctant  to  go  home  to  their  wait- 
ing tents.  But  at  last  they  crossed  the  water 
in  the  quiet  night  stillness,  wondering  if  a 
camping  trip  could  be  much  more  delightful 
than  this! 

THE  FIRST  CAMPING  TRIP 

The  next  day  dawned  clear,  exhilarating, 
with  sunlight  dancing  in  the  trees  and  on  the 
water.  Impatiently  the  girls  lived  through 
craft-hour,  folk-dancing  and  rest  hour,  then 

80 


hurried  up  to  the  tennis  court  to  spread  and 
roll  their  blankets.  They  were  all  in  dark 
serge  middies,  and  in  a  twinkle  of  time  they 
had  their  ponchos  over  their  shoulders  ready 
for  tramping. 

Ce-ki-ca-ti  came  up  with  a  smile  to  an- 
nounce: "We  start  from  the  canoe  dock.  All 
down  to  the  canoes  as  quickly  as  you  can  get 
there!"  After  she  had  enjoyed  their  surprise 
for  a  moment,  she  added,  "We  thought  we 
had  better  give  you  an  easy  trip  for  the  first." 

The  girls  loved  canoeing  too  well  to  be  dis- 
appointed, and  willingly  laid  their  ponchos 
in  the  bottom  of  the  craft  and  arranged  them- 
selves under  Ti-ya-ta's  direction.  It  was  some- 
thing of  a  test  of  judgment  to  arrange  the 
canoes.  In  all  water  trips  greatest  care  was 
taken  against  accident.  No  canoes  could  start 
without  a  "water- witch,"  one  who  had  not  only 
taken  the  test  of  the  100-yard  swim,  but  swum 
a  distance  about  twice  as  far  as  that  of  the 
test,  undressed  in  deep  water,  tipped  over  a 
canoe,  righted  it,  and  paddle  to  shore  again, 
and,  in  addition,  showed  herself  possessed  of 
skill  and  judgment  necessary  to  one  who  was 
to  be  trusted  with  the  management  of  a  ca- 
noe with  other  girls  in  it. 

81 


m  m  m  n  b  @  issues  \ 


The  decorated  canoe  procession 

At  last  the  canoes  were  ready  to  start,  the 
girls  who  had  not  taken  the  test  in  the  war- 
canoe,  and  soon  they  were  paddling  over  the 
lake,  the  hills  echoing  to  their  happy  songs 
and  laughter. 

They  passed  several  islands  and  a  number 
of  pretty  points  and  coves  along  the  shores 
before  they  reached  the  long,  sandy  beach  of 
Frye's  Island,  where  they  were  to  land.  There 
was  room  here  to  draw  up  the  canoes  along  the 
shore,  build  a  great  fire,  and  cook  supper,  and 
plenty  of  space  besides  for  spreading  the  pon- 

82 


chos  on  the  sand  to  make  the  beds.  Most  of 
the  girls  chose  their  places  at  once,  some  look- 
ing for  secluded  spots  among  the  trees,  while 
a  few  lazily  dropped  their  ponchos  wherever 
they  landed,  trusting  to  luck  to  find  a  good 
place  to  sleep.  The  thoughtful  ones  began  to 
gather  drift  wood,  and  soon  a  fire  was  blaz- 
ing merrily. 

The  girls  had  scarcely  noticed  a  bank  of 
mist  that  was  rolling  slowly  up  from  the  west 
shore  of  the  lake,  but  now  its  filmy  blanket 


'Dipping  our  paddlers, 
Now  swift,  now  slow'3 

83 


m  u  m  0  q  Ei  sa^^aas  m 

spread  softly  over  their  cove,  and  across  the 
clear  blue  waters  of  the  lake,  till  the  warmth 
and  sunshine  vanished,  and  the  dancing  waters 
grew  gray  under  its  chilly  touch.  The  "Red 
Beak,"  coming  later  with  its  precious  freight 
of  food  for  the  trip,  bringing  also  Hiiteni  and 
a  guest,  had  been  wrapped  in  the  mist  soon 
after  leaving  camp,  and  was  guided  to  the 
girls  by  the  light  of  their  fire,  which  glowed, 
like  a  living  thing  out  of  the  soft,  gray  blue  of 
the  level  shore.  Coming  nearer,  Hiiteni  saw 
the  dark  canoes  drawn  up  along  the  water's 
edge,  and  the  girls  moving  about,  so  busy  and 
contented,  so  at  home  there,  camping  in  the 
mist,  that  she  was  drawn  irresistibly  toward 
the  magnet  of  the  fire,  with  its  cozy  protec- 
tion against  all  the  chill  outside  world. 

SUPPER  AND  FROLIC  IN  THE  MIST 

As  soon  as  the  provisions  brought  by  the 
"Red  Beak"  had  been  landed,  black  pots  be- 
gan to  boil  over  little  fires  along  the  shore — 
the  big  fire  was  chiefly  for  comfort  and  com- 
pany— and  the  supper  of  bread  and  butter, 
boiled  potatoes,  creamed  beef,  and  maple 
syrup  boiled  down  on  walnuts  was  speedily 
cooked.    Some  of  the  girls  who  were  not  busy 

84 


M  SBtfE&T&S  11  O  0  ®  EO 

paddled  around  the  cove,  making  dreamily 
beautiful  pictures  in  the  mist,  but  none  were 
absent  when  the  committee  began  serving  the 
appetizing  supper  to  the  hungry  girls. 

The  real  Frye's  Island  frolic  came  after 
supper.  A  huge  stump  was  blazing  on  the 
fire  now,  making  strange  shadows  and  weird 
fire  pictures.  The  mist  wrapped  the  scene 
about  with  a  veil  of  privacy  and  aloofness,  till 
in  that  lonely  spot  the  rest  of  the  world 
seemed  hardly  to  exist  at  all.  One  by  one 
strange  forms  crept  out  from  the  bushes  to 
bask  in  the  glow  of  the  fire.  Hair  down,  arms 
bare,  one  in  flaming  yellow,  another  in  sea 
green,  with  now  a  kimono  of  scarlet  wrapped 
about  bare  white  feet,  or  gowns  of  white 
draped  and  girdled  in  fantastic  forms,  the 
mist-maidens  began  their  revelry.  They 
danced  before  the  fire  with  sylph-like  grace; 
they  acted  a  tragic  Indian  legend;  they  sang 
quaint  old  English  folk-songs,  repeating  with 
thrilling  impressiveness  the  one  which  ends, 

"Tonight  she'll  sleep  in  the  cold  open  field, 
Along  with  the  raggle-taggle  gypsies,  oh!" 

The  mystic  beauty  of  the  scene  had  cast 
its  spell  over  all,  and  set  to  its  own  harmony 

85 


m  m  m  n  0  ®  gs^^ggK  01 

the  thoughts,  the  feelings,  even  the  fun  and 
frolic  of  the  night. 

It  was  late  before  Hiiteni  could  bring  her- 
self to  call  the  revelry  to  an  end,  but  at  last 
she  invited  all  to  a  good-night  dip  in  the  lake. 
Gladly  they  went,  and  mysteriously  the  waters 
closed  about  them,  soft  and  cool.  The  beauty 
of  the  scene  can  only  be  described  by  Embers's 
poem: 

IN  MEMORY  OF  FRYE'S  ISLAND 
The  sand  was  silver  white.    The  night 
Was  tenanted  with  wraiths  of  mist. 
The  dusky  pebbles  on  the  shore 
Were  wetly  kissed. 
And  thick  against  the  sky,  and  high, 
The  forest  crowded  down  to  meet 
The  mist  wraiths  hovering  on  the  sand 
About  its  feet. 

Upon  the  sand,  a  band 

Of  maidens  circled  'round  a  fire 

That  redly  blazed,  and  touched  with  gold 

Their  strange  attire. 

Sounds  rose  of  mystic  chants,  their  dance 

Wove  in  and  out  with  solemn  tread. 

Reflected  in  the  shifting  waves 

The  fire  was  red. 

86 


m  &?i&0^  u  ®  m  m  m  m 

The  dance  grew  fast,  its  song  more  strong, 

Then  melted  to  a  rosy  flight 

Of  gleaming  forms,  that  stole  away, 

Fire-touched  with  light, 

And  slipped  into  a  swirl  and  curl 

Of  mist-clad  waters,  softly  cool, 

Whose  velvet  cling  closed  swiftly  'round 

Without  a  sound. 

The  witchery  of  that  hour  a  power  has  given 
To  take  the  clean,  wild  gifts  of  earth  and 

heaven, 
The  love  of  stars  at  night,  the  light  of  fire. 
The  joy  of  song,  the  mystery  of  desire, 
And  dare  the  freedom  of  a  wild  new  birth 
Into  the  silent,  great,  glad  joys  of  earth. 

The  warmth  of  the  fire  welcomed  the  maid- 
ens back  to  earth  and  reality,  and  soon  they 
were  slipping  into  their  beds  on  the  sand,  too 
happy  at  first  to  lose  any  of  the  new  experi- 
ence by  falling  asleep.  The  loon  laughed  his 
long,  eerie  laughter,  far  out  over  the  lake. 
Close  by,  in  the  marshes  of  the  island,  a  frog 
tuned  his  bass  viol  with  vigor,  and  the  girls 
felt  as  if  they  were  waiting  restlessly  for  the 
tune  to  begin.    But  they  fell  asleep  still  wait- 

87 


ing,  and  when  they  woke  it  was  daylight,  and 
a  chickadee  was  balancing  on  the  end  of  a 
branch  to  sing  them  a  friendly  good-morning. 
The  early  risers  tried  to  be  very  quiet, 
talking  to  each  other  in  sign  language  and 
moving  about  with  mysterious  silence;  but 
the  sleepiest  woke  at  last,  and  tongues  were 
loosened,  and  everyone  hurried  down  to  chris- 
ten the  new  day  with  a  dip.  Then  came  break- 
fast, with  fried  toast  cooked  on  little  fires  in  a 
row  between  two  logs,  and  cocoa  from  one 
large  kettle.  Half  a  dozen  girls  were  given 
frying  pans,  and  after  they  had  fried  their 
own  toast  they  passed  on  the  use  of  the  fire 
and  the  pan  to  others.  "Have  you  promised 
your  frying  pan?  May  I  have  it  next?"  was 
the  slogan. 

"A  TANGI" 

The  sun  was  bright  that  morning,  so  every- 
one was  glad  to  sit  in  the  shade  and  do  craft- 
work,  wood-blocks,  bead-bands,  etc.,  while  a 
story  was  read  aloud.  Then  came  another  dip, 
a  hurried  rolling  of  ponchos,  and  the  "Red 
Beak"  was  at  hand  again  to  take  them  home. 
A  stiff  breeze  had  risen,  making  the  return 
quite  a  different  thing  from  the  trip  of  the 
day  before.     Everyone  was  tired,  and  a  few 

39 


0MG0  @  gs^^ggs  m 

who  were  not  very  good  sailors,  were  seasick 
when  the  shore  came  in  sight. 

"How  good  camp  looks!"  cried  Ma-na. 

"But  how  terribly  civilized  it  seems!"  an- 
swered Wa-ye-ka,  looking  with  a  dazed  ex- 
pression from  one  to  another  of  the  trim  little 
tents  which  a  day  or  two  before  had  seemed 
so  very  primitive.  It  was  a  far  cry  back  to 
the  city  life,  yet  so  gradually  had  they  come 
that  they  scarcely  realized  the  steps  they  had 
taken. 

Supper  that  night  was  simple  and  quiet, 
beside  Hiiteni's  fireplace,  and  after  it  Alaska, 
clad  in  strange  costume,  talked  from  the  high 
rock  about  the  native  people  of  New  Zealand, 
where  her  childhood  days  had  been  spent.  She 
told  of  many  interesting  customs  and  tradi- 
tions, but  the  one  that  particularly  impressed 
the  girls  was  the  tangi,  which,  she  explained, 
was  a  meeting  of  women  to  weep  together,  for- 
mally, over  one  who  died. 

That  night  after  the  girls  had  gone  to  their 
tents  a  woesome  noise  arose  from  "Niebelun- 
gen"  and  was  caught  up  by  "The  Heavenlies" 
and  swept  over  all  the  camp,  a  noise  like  a 
nursery  full  of  grown-up  babies  deprived  of 
their  favorite  toys.  It  was  a  tangi.  Why  it  was 

90 


m  ssft^.ss  u  @  0  0  ®  m 

given  no  one  knew,  unless  because  the  first 
camping  trip  of  the  season  was  over,  and  the 
"Camp  in  the  Mist"  could  never  again  be  any- 
thing but  a  memory  in  the  hearts  of  the  weep- 
ers. 


Ca-da- 


91 


VI 

MASTERING  THE  WATER  AND 
PRIMITIVE  COOKING 

"T^rE  pull  long,  we  pull  strong,  we  pull 
*  *       keen  and  true, 
A  dip  now,  a  foaming  prow,  through  waters 

so  blue. 
We  sing  to  the  king  of  the  big  black  rocks, 
Through  waters  we  glide  like  a  long-tailed 
fox!" 

On  the  second  Tuesday  of  camp  this  song 
echoed  across  the  lake,  for  crew  practice  had 
begun.  The  four  crews  had  already  been 
chosen,  "The  Flying  Fishes,"  "The  Singing 
Swans,"  "The  Blue  Beavers" — the  fourth  was 
yet  nameless,  as  there  had  been  but  three  in 
other  years.  Helpful  was  to  train  two  of  the 
crews,  and  To-mo-ke  the  other  two. 

Monday  evening  had  been  the  time  of 
Council  Fire,  and  the  girls  were  a  trifle  sleep- 
ier than  usual,  but  the  crew  of  "The  Flying 
Fishes"  struggled  bravely  out  of  slumber  at 
a  quarter  of  seven  to  the  rattle  of  pebbles  on 

92 


m  gBftSSEES  H  S3  O  0  ©  EQ 

the  tent  roof.  Dressed  in  bathing  suits,  they 
tumbled  sleepily  into  their  places  in  the  war- 
canoe  for  the  half  hour  of  drill  in  the  myster- 
ies of  "rest,  "cross-rest,"  "fin-rest,"  etc.,  not 
to  mention  the  simple  art  of  paddling  together 
in  perfect  time.  It  was  a  beautiful  sight  on  the 
still  morning  to  see  the  long  canoe  on  the  silent, 
gray  lake,  moving  rhythmically  farther  and 
farther  away,  then  returning  gaily  just  as 
camp  awakened.  The  girls  came  in  singing 
"Oh,  we  own  the  lake !"  with  an  accompani- 
ment of  waving  paddles,  and  lined  up  on  the 
dock  for  their  trainer's  "Thanks  for  the  day, 
Comrades,"  to  which  they  replied  with  a  vig- 
orous and  prolonged  "Yea!"  that  made  the 
rocks  echo.  Then  they  joined  the  other  dip- 
pers, and  crew  practice  was  over  for  that 
morning. 

LEARNING  TO  FLY 

A  dock  was  in  place  now,  and  the  girls 
noticed  when  they  went  out  for  their  practice 
that  morning  that  a  springboard  had  been 
added.  This  meant  that  diving  was  to  begin, 
and  the  swimming  hour  was  a  time  of  great 
excitement.  Ki-lo-des-ka  started  the  ball  roll- 
ing with  her  famous  dives,  and  others  soon  f ol- 

93 


lowed,  some  making  neat,  clean  dives  with 
feet  together,  some  going  down  flat  with  a 
stinging  pain,  but  getting  up  to  try  again. 
Some,  even  of  those  who  could  swim,  were  too 
timid  to  try  diving,  but  the  brave  ones  cheered 
them  on.  He-ta-ya  especially  devoted  herself 
to  helping  Sun-o-wa,  who  only  needed  self- 
confidence.  But  today  she  refused  to  attempt 
to  dive,  so  He-ta-ya  gave  her  up  at  last,  and 
took  her  own  turn  at  the  springboard.  She 
had  never  learned  any  but  the  simplest  form 
of  diving,  but  she  watched  Ki-lo-des-ka,  and 
tried  some  of  her  dives  with  a  fearlessness  and 
skill  that  promised  well  for  her  future  attain- 
ment. 

Meanwhile  Ki-lo-des-ka  had  been  swim- 
ming under  water,  her  yellow  hair  glinting 
golden  in  the  sunshine.  Those  who  watched 
her,  disappearing  for  long  intervals,  coming 
up  to  breathe,  then  swimming  away  again,  un- 
derstood how  she  had  won  her  name  of  "The 
Mermaid."  Three  other  girls  were  out  in  the 
lake  with  overturned  canoes,  trying  with  rare 
persistence  to  splash  out  the  water  and  paddle 
back  to  shore.  No  sooner  was  one  wave 
splashed  out,  than  another  leaped  defiantly  in, 
and  the  canoes  were  all  the  while  drifting  a 

94 


Ki-lo-des-ha  swimming  under  water 


little  farther  from  shore  in  the  wind.  When 
the  swimming  time  ended  Da-su,  one  of  the 
twins,  had  paddled  to  shore,  but  the  others 
were  compelled  to  give  up  and  try  another  day. 

WELCOMING  A  GUEST 

In  their  strenuous  play  the  girls  had  given 
little  heed  to  a  visitor  who  had  arrived  during 
swimming  hour,  and  now  sat  on  the  bank 
watching,  commenting  in  a  pleasant,  southern 
drawl  on  all  that  they  were  doing,  exclaiming 
over  the  value  of  these  lessons  in  self-reliance, 
which  would  fit  them  to  meet  any  emergency 
that  might  arise.  She  sat  there  quietly,  with 
an  air  of  leisure  that  might  have  led  anyone 
to  suppose  she  had  never  done  anything  more 
strenuous  in  her  life  than  watch  from  the 
grand  stand  and  smile  a  graceful  approval. 

But  at  dinner-time  word  was  given,  "Sing 
a  cheer  to  Miss  Moore." 

"Oh,"  one  after  another  exclaimed  with 
enthusiasm,  "she  is  the  government  expert 
who  has  come  to  teach  us  canning!"  And  they 
sang  with  right  good  will: 

"Give  a  cheer,  give  a  cheer, 
Wake  the  echoes  far  and  near, 

96 


To  the  pride  of  the  white  and  blue ; 

Oh,    Wohelo,   we'll    sing  till   the   mountain 

echoes  ring, 
Miss  Moore,  here's  to  you!" 

To  this  song  of  greeting  Miss  Moore  made 
smiling,  graceful  acknowledgment,  and  the 
girls  took  her  into  their  hearts  at  once,  and 
during  her  short  visit  in  camp  she  proved  that 
they  had  made  no  mistake  in  giving  her  cordial 
welcome. 

Then  Hiiteni  made  a  little  speech  which 
absorbed  all  thoughts.  "This  evening,"  she 
said,  "the  girls  of  each  tent  may  cook  their 
own  suppers.  If  there  is  no  fireplace  beside 
your  tent  you  can  build  one.  Last  year  the 
weather  was  too  dry  so  that  we  were  afraid 
of  causing  fires,  but  this  year  it  will  be  quite 
safe,  and  unless  conditions  change,  we  shall 
do  this  every  Tuesday  night.  Each  group 
must  fill  a  pail  of  water  and  keep  it  near  the 
fire,  to  be  used  in  case  of  emergency.  Ti-ya-ta 
will  give  out  the  provisions  from  the  kitchen. 
You  may  send  two  representatives  from  each 
tent  to  receive  them  when  the  bugle  blows. 
There  will  be  bacon,  potatoes,  bread  and  but- 
ter, and  materials  for  fudge.    If  you  like,  you 

97 


®  m  m  n  b  ®.  assess  m 


Top  o'  the  Rocks" 


can  pour  the  fudge  on  the  bread  and  butter 
before  it  is  quite  stiff,  and  make  a  delicious 
dessert,  but  you  may  eat  it  as  candy  if  you 
prefer.  Please  decide  during  rest  hour  how 
you  will  cook  your  food,  and,  if  you  need  any 
extra  materials,  you  can  ask  for  them  when 
you  receive  your  supplies." 

This  meant  a  busy  afternoon  spent  in 
gathering  wood,  repairing  the  little  stone  fire- 
places, and  plunging  into  the  delights  of  cook- 
ery.    Several  girls  prepared  to  cook  supper 

98 


m  ^Mrwe°gTrll§  u  m  n  0  ®  eo 

with  Miss  Moore  at  the  guest  tent,  "Top  o' 
the  Rocks,"  which  is  generally  agreed  to  pos- 
sess the  most  picturesque  fireplace  in  camp. 
It  was  built  on  the  very  edge  of  a  rock  which 
slopes  steeply  down  into  the  water,  with  a 
little,  sturdy,  slanting  pine  tree  leaning  out 
beside  it,  making  Japanese  outlines  against  the 
sunset  sky. 

SUPPER-TIME  IN  THE  TENTS 

That  evening  Embers  sat  in  the  farthest 
corner  patiently  baking  potatoes  in  a  special 
fire  under  an  overhanging  rock,  while  the 
others  passed  wood  to  her  as  she  needed  it, 
and  fed  her  with  bread  and  butter  and  bacon. 
Miss  Moore  toasted  her  slice  of  bacon  with 
girlish  delight  and  enthusiasm,  offering  to 
teach  the  girls  how  to  make  real  southern  hoe- 
cake  the  next  week.  Dis-ya-di  performed  the 
astonishing  feat  of  stirring  fudge  with  one 
hand  and  holding  her  bacon  stick  with  the 
other,  without  harm  to  either.  The  little  group 
was  just  enjoying  to  the  full  the  thrilling 
sense  of  being  quite  independent  of  the  devices 
of  civilization,  when  a  call  from  above  told 
that  someone  was  passing  around  with  a  large 
tray  of  cake,  bidding  them  take  one  piece  each. 

99 


m  m  m  n  0  m  gs^^sas  eo 

With  a  noble  effort  they  subdued  their  ob- 
jections and  helped  themselves  to  cake.  Then 
"The  Chipmunks"  brought  Miss  Moore  a  dish 
of  ripe  red  raspberries  which  they  had  gath- 
ered, washed,  and  sugared  for  her,  and  which 
she  insisted  upon  sharing  with  her  supper- 
mates.  Gradually  the  "Tuesday-night-supper 
feeling"  began  to  come  to  every  one, — the  feel- 
ing that  there  is  a  great  deal  too  much  to  eat 
in  this  world,  and  that  it  were  best  to  lie  down 
and  rest  awhile  after  the  exertion  of  doing 
one's  duty  by  it.  Before  the  summer  was 
ended  this  feeling  was  too  well  known  to  need 
comment. 

But  "The  Top  o'  the  Rocks"  family  ral- 
lied bravely  to  new  activities.  A  councilor 
volunteered  to  be  Miss  Moore's  guide  on  a 
tour  of  the  camp,  while  the  others  cleared  up 
the  supper  dishes.  Some  of  the  tents  had  fin- 
ished their  supper,  but  all  had  a  little  fudge 
left  for  the  purposes  of  hospitality,  which  they 
pressed  upon  their  visitors  in  spite  of  protests. 
It  was  delicious,  and  the  visitors  were  inter- 
ested in  observing  the  little  differences  in  ways 
and  devices  for  cooking.  "The  Kingfishers" 
had  neatly  spread  on  a  paper  plate  the  oiled 
paper  in  which  their  bacon  had  been  wrapped, 

100 


SEBACO-WOHELO 
CAMP  FIRE  GIRLS 


II    00§0 


The  Heavenlies'  kitchen 

and  poured  their  fudge  out  on  this  to  harden. 
Some  had  boiled  their  potatoes,  some  had 
baked  them,  and  one  tent  had  served  them 
French  fried.  "The  Whippies"  had  been 
cooking  in  a  kettle,  which  hung  on  a  crane 
over  a  large  fireplace  near  the  tennis  court. 
Now  that  the  feast  was  over  they  had  filled 
the  kettle  with  water,  and  were  nobly  wash- 
ing their  dishes  in  hot  water,  an  example  that 
others  might  well  have  followed.  Several  of 
the  tents  talked  largely  of  the  ovens  they  were 
going  to  have,  and  the  things  they  were  going 

101 


m  m  m  n  0  m  »°„£°G«  m 

to  bake,  boasts  which  happily  they  lived  to 
fulfil. 

Last  of  all  the  visitors  came  to  "The  Heav- 
enly Twins,"  whose  fireplace,  on  the  highest 
ledge  of  all,  nearly  rivalled  in  picturesque  ef- 
fect that  of  "Top  o'the  Rocks."  When  the 
guests  stood  on  the  platform  between  the  two 
tents,  looking  down  over  the  rustic  railing, 
the  girls  responded  to  their  greeting  by  sing- 
ing a  fudge  song  they  had  composed  while 
eating,  with  He-ta-ya  as  cheer  leader  to  direct 
the  tune  and  the  motions.  The  song  has  not 
survived  the  test  of  time,  and  perhaps  the 
world  is  not  much  poorer,  but  during  its  short 
life  it  was  a  success.  When  other  visitors  came 
up  to  the  tents  a  little  later  they  were  cor- 
dially urged  to  repeat  the  performance,  and 
they  gracefully  did  so. 

"THE  HEAVENLIES"  AS 
ENTERTAINERS 

The  singers  stood  before  the  closed  tent 
flaps  of  "Heavenly  II,"  while  their  audience 
sat  in  the  doorway  of  "Heavenly  I,"  or  re- 
posed in  comfort  on  its  little  cots.  Cheering 
was  enthusiastic.  Intoxicated  by  their  success 
the  singers  soared  to  undreamed  of  heights,  and 

102 


m  iss^r^ss  u  m  n  0  © 10 

volunteered  to  give  an  opera — or  was  it  an  up- 
roar? They  retired  into  the  tent  for  costumes 
that  proved  to  be  fearful  and  wonderful  com- 
binations,— dyed  lingerie  of  the  summer,  sup- 
plemented by  a  bath  robe,  a  mannish  straw  hat, 
and  similar  accessories.  They  rendered  the  Sex- 
tette from  Lucia,  in  six  different  keys  at  the 
same  time,  and  a  tragic  opera  in  an  unknown 
tongue,  but  with  perfectly  intelligible  slayings 
and  lamentations.  He-ta-ya  and  Te-pa  gave 
their  famous  "Toreadore"  performance, 
which  never  ceased  to  be  called  for,  at  inter- 
vals, from  that  time  until  the  end  of  camp. 
Sun-o-wa  rendered  a  Danish  dance,  and  Ce-ki- 
ca-ti  came  in  just  in  time  for  a  Spanish  one, 
with  the  aid  of  a  scarf  and  sombrero.  The 
audience  was  steadily  growing  in  numbers, 
and  was  fairly  shaking  the  tent  with  laughter 
and  applause. 

After  repeating  each  act  several  times  the 
actresses  retired  with  many  bows  and  modest 
hints  of  their  disappointment  at  the  absence  of 
flowers.  But  the  audience  was  so  insistent  for 
more  that  at  last  they  yielded.  "We  have  one 
more  act  to  give,"  Ce-ki-ca-ti  announced,  "but 
it  will  take  us  some  time  to  prepare  for  it,  and 
we  shall  have  to  ask  you  to  wait  patiently." 

103 


h  m  m  n  h  @  sssftssss  m 

They  drew  the  tent  flaps  behind  them, 
while  the  admiring  audience  slipped  furtively 
out  for  bouquets  of  hemlock  branches.  Then 
they  came  back  and  waited.  They  waited  long, 
until  at  last  it  was  discovered  that  the  tent 
behind  the  closed  flaps  was  empty.  The  ac- 
tresses had  quietly  climbed  out  by  the  back 
way!  And  so  the  "Heavenly  Opera"  ended 
as  unexpectedly  and  quite  as  effectively  as  it 
had  begun. 

These  spontaneous  gayeties — what  is  it 
that  suddenly  calls  them  into  existence  in  a 
happy  moment  of  exhilaration,  dowering  them 
with  a  wild,  wilful  humor  that  we  could  not 
have  caught  with  months  of  forethought  and 
drill?  It  seemed  as  if  this  evening  of  cooking 
together  by  the  tent  fire  had  called  into  being 
a  new  element  of  comradeship  that  fused  the 
spirits  and  powers  of  the  girls  into  joyous  ex- 
pression. 


~®F 


Ca-oh 
104 


r0h,  we  own  the  Lake! 


VII 

CANNING  AND  CAMPING 

TF  Miss  Moore  had  been  rather  uniquely 
A  entertained  on  her  first  day  in  camp,  it  was 
her  turn  now  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  girls  to 
another  kind  of  outdoor  cookery  that  proved 
scarcely  less  novel  and  fascinating.  She  ap- 
peared the  next  morning  in  a  trim  white  apron 
and  cap,  and  all  in  camp  followed  her  to 
the  open  space  beside  "The  Blue  Birds' "  tent. 

Tin  cans  and  little  tin  tops  came  out  of  a 
box,  together  with  the  very  newest  kind  of 
"topper,"  an  ingenious  device  to  aid  in  solder- 
ing. Last  came  the  canner  itself,  a  square, 
zinc  box,  with  a  chimney,  which  was  easily 
fitted  into  place.  The  lower  compartment  was 
a  firebox,  the  upper  was  to  be  filled  with  water, 
and  Miss  Moore  cautioned  the  girls  never  to 
forget  to  put  the  water  in  before  starting  the 
fire  if  they  did  not  wish  to  ruin  the  canner. 

There  were  amusing  little  stories  to  accom- 
pany the  explanation  of  the  working  of  the 
canner.    One  could  see  her,  as  she  talked,  vis- 

106 


iting  the  towns  of  her  state,  and  introducing 
the  subject  of  canning.  She  related  some  of 
her  conversations  with  women  who  evidently 
had  thought  her  a  mere  schoolgirl. 

"Was  canning  hard  work?" 

"Well,  they  guessed  she  had  never  tried 
it  or  she  would  not  ask  that!" 

"Did  it  keep?" 

"Why,  of  course.  Sometimes  you  had  to 
go  a  long  way  down  to  get  past  the  mould, 
but  it  kept." 

Then  tactfully  she  had  persuaded  the  wom- 
en to  try  the  new  method,  placing  the  fruit 
or  vegetables  in  the  cans  before  cooking  and 
lowering  them  into  the  hot  water  for  the  "pro- 
cessing," as  she  called  it;  and  to  their  amaze- 
ment she  had  proved  to  them  that  this  method, 
which  seemed  like  play  compared  with  the  old, 
indoor,  stand-over-the-stove  way,  nevertheless 
kept  the  fruit  much  better,  and  gave  more  of 
its  original  flavor.  She  explained  to  them  that 
the  new  method  could  be  used  with  glass  cans 
as  well  as  tin,  by  leaving  the  tops  a  trifle 
loose  while  "processing,"  and  that,  if  one  had 
no  canner,  a  boiler  over  a  stove  would  answer 
the  purpose  very  well,  the  principle  being  ex- 
actly the  same. 

107 


m  m  m  n  q  @  sb^^sss  eo 

She  paused  a  moment  to  show  the  girls 
how  the  cans  were  to  be  lowered  into  the  water 
by  the  racks  made  for  the  purpose,  then  went 
on  to  the  story  of  how  this  canning  work  had 
started  in  Tennessee,  after  the  success  of  the 
boys'  corn  clubs  had  driven  the  girls  wild  with 
envy.  She  told  how  a  plucky  little  school 
teacher  had  taken  a  leave  of  absence  from  her 
work  and  devoted  herself  to  finding  what 
could  best  take  the  place  of  corn  as  a  special 
study  for  girls'  clubs,  and  had  finally  hit  upon 
the  tomato,  which  can  be  used  in  perhaps  a 
larger  variety  of  ways  than  any  other  vege- 
table, and  is  beautiful  as  well  as  nutritious. 
Miss  Moore  told  amazing  tales  of  what  some 
girls  had  done  with  the  tenth  of  an  acre  of 
land,  planted  with  tomatoes  they  cultivated 
themselves,  and  of  exciting  contests  and  trips 
to  Washington  that  were  awarded  as  prizes  for 
the  best  work. 

It  touched  a  little  spring  of  Camp  Fire 
pride  to  learn  that,  in  part,  the  Canning  Clubs 
were  striving  for  the  same  purpose  as  the 
Camp  Fire  Girls'  organization,  to  give  girls 
new  opportunities  for  social  life,  for  working 
together  at  something  worth  while,  and,  best 
of  all,  for  knowing  the  joy  of  earning  their 

108 


own  living  in  wholesome,  healthful  ways.  She 
added  that  the  Camp  Fire  Girls  had  the  ad- 
vantage in  cultivating  the  beauty  and  romance 
of  life  with  the  practical  side,  and  that  nothing 
could  be  finer  than  for  the  two  organizations 
to  work  together. 

Her  enthusiasm,  and  the  earnestness  that 
lay  beneath  the  bright  winsomeness  of  her 
ways,  had  kindled  the  girls  to  eagerness  to 
take  up  this  new  craft,  but  they  were  obliged 
to  wait  to  begin  the  actual  work  of  canning 
until  the  fruit  could  be  selected,  which  in  a 
camp  in  the  Maine  woods  in  early  summer  was 
not  a  matter  of  a  moment's  time.  But  when 
Hiiteni  and  Miss  Moore  went  motoring  off 
to  Portland  the  next  morning  they  knew  that 
the  fruit  would  be  soon  forthcoming. 

THE  SECOND  CAMPING  TRIP 

Meantime  came  the  second  camping  trip — 
but  there  is  not  space  to  tell  all  the  things  that 
happened  before  it  was  over.  This  time  the 
girls  really  walked  with  ponchos  over  their 
shoulders  all  the  way  from  the  camp  to  the 
point  called  "Frye's  Leap,"  where  a  white 
man  named  Frye  is  supposed  to  have  saved 
his  life  by  diving  into  the  lake  when  followed 

109 


©  ^ 


by  Indians.  Here  they  cooked  and  ate  and 
dipped,  and  in  the  morning  they  saw  the  lake 
steamer  go  by  with  a  load  of  Camp  Fire  Girls 
on  board.  This  was  an  event  indeed.  The 
Sebago- Wohelo  girls  called  to  them,  speaking 
all  together  as  they  so  well  knew  how,  and  the 
girls  heard  and  repeated  the  name. 

But  when  they  tried  to  give  their  own  in 
return  their  voices  scattered  and  were  lost, 
either  because  they  were  unable  to  mass  them- 
selves together  in  the  boat,  or  because,  as 
Tiamanous  would  have  said,  "they  had  not 
fully  mastered  the  art  of  team  work."  So  they 
passed  "like  ships  in  the  night,"  yet  left  behind 
a  glow  of  fellowship  and  a  sharing  of  ideals, 
for  whoever  they  were,  whatever  their  name, 
they  were  Camp  Fire  Girls ! 

CANNING  AGAIN 

When  the  girls  returned  from  this  trip 
they  found  alluring  crates  of  fruit  waiting 
on  the  dock,  and  on  Saturday  morning  the 
first  canning  crew  went  to  work,  with  the  rest 
of  the  girls  on  the  bank  above  watching  them. 
They  had  no  dainty  uniforms,  but  they  did 
their  best,  with  bathing  and  boudoir  caps  and 
such  aprons  as  they  could  find.     Beans,  to- 

111 


m 13  m  n  b  ®  sssftgira  m 

matoes  and  peaches  were  canned,  some  in  glass 
jars,  some  in  tin,  and  when  dinner  time  came 
one  of  the  girls  ate  her  dinner  beside  the  can- 
ner  to  watch  the  peaches,  which  were  last  to 
finish.  When  these  were  at  last  completed 
they  very  proudly  surveyed  their  rows  of  jars, 
and  planned  great  things  for  the  time  when 
blueberries  should  be  ripe. 

Next  Monday  evening  at  the  Council  Fire, 
when  canning  days  were  reached  in  the  Count, 
Hiiteni  asked  the  reader  to  pause  a  moment. 
Forth  came  four  maidens  and  sang  the  "Song 
of  Canning,"  to  the  tune  of  "Oh,  I'm  here 
and  you're  here,,,  which  has  since  become  fa- 
miliar to  Sebago-Wohelo  maidens.     It  goes: 

"Oh  111  can,  and  you'll  can 
All  that  we  can  can! 
So  start  a  fire  in  the  canner 
And  fetch  out  a  pan — 
And  we  will  blanch  and  peel  and  wash 
Tomatoes,  peaches,  beans,  and  squash, 
And  they  will  simmer 
In  air-tight  containers 
Of  crystal  and  stone, 
All  packed  with  a  grace  and  a  style 
That  is  really  our  own, 
112 


And  we  will  make  the  whole  world 
Sit  up  and  take  notice 
That  we  can  can!" 

Incidentally  on  that  evening  Miss  Moore 
was  initiated  into  the  ranks  of  The  Camp 
Fire  Girls,  which  ceremony  wedded  The  Can- 
ning Clubs  and  The  Camp  Fire  Girls  more 
firmly  together,  and  the  conquest  of  cookery 
and  canning  as  outdoor  sports  was  complete. 

(Information  about  the  Canning  Clubs 
may  be  had  by  writing  The  Department  of 
Agriculture,  Washington,  D.  C.) 


Mna-ka 


113 


* 

%jtsk.Ak/Jikydk 

ti^tf*^ 

l^iWBtt-  Wf  ^Sfc  -*- 

JfVZZ  aZZ  pw/Z  together 
For  we're  maids  of  Wohelo 


VIII 

EVERY  TENT  A  SONG 

rpHE  Camp  Fire  fever  was  at  its  height. 
■*■  Timanous  had  made  another  visit,  and 
given  a  talk  on  "The  Desires  of  the  American 
Girl,"  her  desire  for  money  of  her  own,  for 
something  worth  while  to  do,  for  friendship 
and  for  a  home.  He  had  kindled  into  life  many 
latent  desires  for  self-reliance  and  worth- 
while achievements  in  the  hearts  of  his  listen- 
ers, and  the  activities  of  camp  were  every  day 
giving  them  fresh  outlet. 

"Kingfishers'  Inn"  had  announced  itself 
as  ready  to  receive  guests  in  pairs  for  five 
cents  a  night,  pillow  fights  five  cents  extra. 
Every  night  some  new  form  of  entertainment 
was  provided,  and  registration  was  full  for 
at  least  a  week  in  advance.  This  was  a  new 
and  novel  way  of  earning  the  money  for  dues. 
Every  Camp  Fire  Girl  earns  the  money  with 
which  she  pays  her  dues  by  her  own  efforts, 
no  matter  what  may  be  her  income  or  allow- 
ance. 

116 


m  m  m  a  h  s.sstt^Rss  m 

Other  tents  and  individuals  chose  less  spec- 
tacular ways  of  earning,  such  as  taking  in 
washings  of  middies,  giving  shampoos  and 
neck  washes  at  swimming  hour  and  gathering 
balsam  for  those  who  had  not  time  to  gather 
it  themselves.  Every  girl  in  camp  seemed  to 
be  fitting  herself  for  a  business  career  by  tak- 
ing account  of  whatever  talents  she  could  turn 
to  practical  and  lucrative  purposes.  In  swim- 
ming, in  era  ft- work,  in  nature  lore  and  cook- 
ery the  girls  were  striving  eagerly  for  honors 
and  promotion  in  the  ranks. 

It  had  been  amusing  on  the  last  camping 
trip,  at  a  place  afterward  known  to  the  girls 
as  "Flat  Rock  Island,"  to  see  the  eagerness 
of  everyone  to  take  part  in  cooking  the  meals. 
In  the  morning  eggs  were  given  out  to  a  num- 
ber of  girls  to  cook  for  the  party,  and  one 
could  be  heard  calling,  "Poached  eggs  over 
here!"  while  another  begged,  pathetically, 
"Please  somebody  order  a  fried  eggl  I  want 
to  fry  an  eggl"  As  a  result  of  their  zeal  sev- 
eral were  waiting  to  claim  the  honor,  as  one  of 
them  expressed  it  in  Council  Fire,  for  "cook- 
ing an  egg  in  four  different  ways." 

It  was  Monday  now,  and,  to  complicate 
matters  further  every  tent  was  in  the  throes 

116 


of  musical  composition  in  preparation  for  the 
great  contest.  "Original  words  and  music" 
had  been  the  orders,  with  "Health"  as  the  sug- 
gested subject,  though  other  subjects  might 
be  allowed.  The  songs  were  to  be  sung  in  the 
evening  at  the  ceremonial  meeting.  All  day 
Sunday,  except  during  service  and  rest-hour, 
the  piano  had  been  wearily  twanging  out  the 
processes  of  composition,  similar  in  effect,  to 
unsympathetic  ears,  to  the  tuning  of  the  in- 
strument. All  day  Monday  the  tents  slipped 
away  together  whenever  a  pause  in  the 
day's  program  permitted  a  hasty  practice 
in  the  woods,  for  a  last  attempt  to  brush  up 
the  melody  or  the  words. 

A  FAREWELL 

The  day  began  sadly  enough,  with  a  fare- 
well to  the  guardian  from  Kansas  City,  whose 
hearty  laugh  had  rung  out  so  merrily  that 
camp  was  going  to  seem  strange  without  it. 
She  was  a  clever  girl,  and  a  good  camper,  and 
it  seemed  like  losing  a  bit  of  camp  to  have  her 
leave,  but  the  girls  were  going  to  say  good- 
by  merrily,  if  say  it  they  must.  So  when 
breakfast  was  over,  a  group  of  the  girls 
emerged  from  the  bungalow  playing  on  combs, 

117 


@I1GB§  ^K°ffi  IH 


! 

imi. 

3? 

|l        -   •■•  ■    " 

v  ^  i 

Jfc^  4k 

JvA 

y^s^i^w 

HE  ■   y 

§1 

**&  It 

7    x"^ 

; 

an 

Mj 

- 

Yarn  /or  J/ie  Weaving 

with  Embers  at  the  head,  walking  backward 
and  beating  time  with  a  tennis  racket.  The 
others  fell  into  line  behind  them,  escorting 
Hiiteni  and  the  departing  guardian,  both  of 
whom  looked  painfully  civilized  in  city  skirts 
and  hats.  Up  the  long  path  they  went  to  the 
road,  where  the  auto  waited,  and  there  the 
Kansas  City  maiden  kissed  them  all  good-by 
and  promised  to  return  for  the  last  two  weeks 
of  camp  if  possible.    She  did  not  come  back, 

118 


Create  a  new  home  in  our  woods 
And  light  the  teepee  in  the  night" 


m  m  m  m  0  ©  rKt?  m 

but  a  parting  is  easier  if  we  can  at  least  pre- 
tend that  it  is  only  for  a  little  while. 

The  girls  hurried  back  to  their  craft  work, 
reluctant  to  lose  time  on  it,  only  pausing  a 
little  as  they  went  to  ask  the  meaning  of  a 
great  white  thing  that  was  going  up  in  the 
woods  behind  the  tennis  court.  "What  is 
it?   What  is  it  for?" 

"It  is  Hiitems  teepee,"  Kee-wee  explained 
proudly.  "Isn't  it  wonderful?  We  are  going 
to  have  Council  Fires  in  there  on  rainy  nights, 
and  sit  in  it  often  to  tell  stories." 

"Oh,  I  wish  it  would  rain  tonight!"  cried 
one  of  the  girls. 

"Don't  wish  that!"  protested  a  "Heavenly." 
"We  need  space  for  singing  our  song." 

"Oh,  do  you?  Guess  it's  going  to  be  an 
action  song." 

"The  Heavenly"  suddenly  became  uncom- 
municative, and  Kee-wee  went  on  happily  con- 
fiding to  the  world  that  she,  too,  had  a  teepee, 
a  little  one  she  had  made  all  herself,  which  she 
was  going  to  set  up  somewhere  in  the  woods. 

HONOR  BEADS 

This  Monday  afternoon  was  the  busiest 
time  imaginable.    In  the  bungalow  Ce-ki-ca-ti, 

120 


who  had  charge  of  the  honor  records,  was  re- 
ceiving lists  of  those  the  girls  had  won  during 
the  week,  and  giving  out  beads  for  the  ones 
which  had  been  awarded  them  the  week  be- 
fore. In  so  large  a  group  it  was  impossible 
actually  to  award  all  the  beads  at  the  Council 
Fire,  for  the  mere  reading  of  the  honors  took 
up  many  minutes,  and  Hiiteni  was  eager  for 
someone  to  suggest  a  way  of  making  it  more 
interesting.  Already  Ce-ki-ca-ti's  resourceful 
mind  was  at  work  on  the  problem. 

The  girls  were  busy  at  the  tables,  each  one 
filling  out  her  honor  sheets  by  painting,  in  its 
appropriate  color,  the  symbol  for  each  honor 
she  had  won,  after  which  the  beads  would  be 
given  her.  Some  were  decorating  the  neat 
brown  pages  of  their  individual  Count  books. 
Over  in  one  corner  a  girl  was  singing  "Amer- 
ica" to  Ta-ku,  as  a  test  for  one  of  the  required 
honors,  while  in  another  corner  Helpful  was 
testing  several  as  to  their  knowledge  of  ele- 
mentary bandaging.  Another  was  telling  over 
the  mythical  stories  of  seven  constellations 
that  she  had  learned  to  distinguish,  for,  on 
pleasant  evenings,  To-mo-ke  had  been  holding 
a  star-gazing  class  on  the  rock  before  the 
bungalow.  With  Ki-lo-des-ka's  help  he  had 
121 


m  m  m  ea  0  ©  »Gr°^°s  m 

contrived  to  make  a  little  sky  of  blue  mosquito 
bar,  outlining  on  it,  in  beads  of  different  sizes, 
the  most  prominent  stars  and  groups  of  the 
season,  and  this  had  been  hung  overhead  in  the 
bungalow  for  study  before  there  was  any  at- 
tempt to  decipher  the  real  stars  out-of-doors. 
Evenings  on  the  water  or  by  the  edge  of  it 
were  made  much  pleasanter  by  this  new  in- 
timacy with  at  least  a  few  of  the  mysterious 
watchers  from  above. 

Not  until  the  supper  bugle  sounded  was 
the  bungalow  entirely  deserted.  Then  the  last 
stragglers  seized  their  beads  and  hurried  over 
to  Hiiteni's  fireplace,  where  a  fire  had  been 
built,  and  a  huge  kettle  hung  from  a  rude 
tripod  over  it.  The  supper  committee  soon 
emerged  from  the  kitchen  with  a  large  dish 
of  melted  butter  and  a  basket  of  crackers. 
The  lid  of  the  kettle  was  removed  and  delic- 
ious, tempting,  savory  steamed  clams  were 
dished  out  in  large  quantities  on  paper  plates, 
to  be  dipped  in  the  melted  butter  and  eaten. 
The  accessories  of  sandwiches,  cake,  etc.,  had 
scant  attention  that  night. 

When  supper  was  over  the  girls  hastened 
away  to  don  their  ceremonial  costumes  before 
sunset.    Softly  and  sweetly  from  the  water's 

122 


0  SSgfiSS&S  U  0  S  0  ®  O 

edge  sounded  the  call  "Wo-he-lo,  Wo-he-lo, 
Wo-he-lo!"  and  softly  the  girls  answered  as 
they  came  gliding  down,  some  stepping  out 
on  the  boulders  that  straggled  away  from 
shore,  others  standing  tall  and  straight  on  the 
rocks  above. 

THE  SUNSET  SONG 

As  the  sun  went  slowly  down  behind  the 
mountains  far  across  the  lake,  they  lifted  their 
arms  and  sang,  "Good-night  to  Thee,  Sun 
Mother,"  repeating  it  softly  and  still  more 
softly,  till  the  flaming  globe  of  light  slipped 
behind  the  crest  of  the  mountain,  then  knelt 
for  a  moment  with  bowed  heads  in  reverent 
thankfulness  for  the  day  that  was  gone.  How 
the  maidens  felt  about  this  sunset  song  may 
be  shown  by  lines  from  the  Count  of  the  next 
week,  written  by  the  girls  of  "Heavenly  Rest" : 

"There  they  sang  their  good-night 
greeting 
And  were  answered  by  a  promise, 
Written  not  in  words  and  music 
But  in  glorious  light  and  color. 
And  they  knew  that  after  twilight, 
After  darkness,  after  dawning, 

123 


to 

I 

g 

a 

£ 
to 


.fee 


There  would  come  again  the  greeting 
Of  the  morrow's  glorious  sunrise." 

After  the  song  the  moccasined  feet  of  the 
girls  stepped  softly  up  through  the  woods  to 
the  place  of  the  Council  Fire.  Here  a  new  de- 
light awaited  them.  Hiiteni  had  often  been 
dissatisfied  with  the  fire  at  the  side  of  the  ten- 
nis court  because  in  the  motion  songs  the  girls 
could  not  circle  around  it.  So  tonight  they 
gathered  around  a  fire  made  in  a  box  filled 
with  sand,  and  set  in  the  center  of  the  circle 
on  the  court,  the  triangular  form,  for  Work, 
Health,  and  Love,  being  the  final  artistic 
touch  that  completed  the  happy  solution  and 
delighted  the  girls. 

CONFERRING  HONORS  AT  THE 
COUNCIL  FIRE 

Several  guests,  who  had  come  to  watch 
the  Council  Fire,  were  sitting  back  among 
the  trees.  Two  of  these  were  a  part  of  the 
Camp  Fire  Girls'  organization  in  the  city  and 
were  asked  to  rise  while  the  Indian  names 
they  had  chosen  were  bestowed  upon  them. 
Then  Alaska  initiated  several  new  Wood 
Gatherers,  giving  them  the  coveted  siver  rings 

125 


@i@^B@  srs  ED 

with  the  seven  fagots  for  the  "Seven  Points  of 
the  Law." 

Seek  beauty, 
Give  service, 
Pursue  knowledge, 
Be  trustworthy, 
Hold  on  to  health, 
Glorify  work, 
Be  happy. 

"I  never  wanted  anything  so  much  in  my 
life  as  I  wanted  that  Wood  Gatherer's  ring!  " 
one  of  the  girls  said  afterward.  She  had  many 
rings  more  costly  than  this,  but  she  had  not 
striven  and  worked  for  those,  nor  found  any 
sweet  meaning  of  comradeship  and  growth  in 
the  wearing  of  them. 

Embers  had  been  asked  to  initiate  the  Fire 
Makers,  for  she  was  a  guardian,  and  so  had  a 
right  to  give  the  symbol  of  rank.  She  could 
not  resist  the  impulse  for  a  bit  of  fun  in  the 
initiation  of  Te-pa,  asking  her  how  she  in- 
terpreted the  requirement  to  know  "the  ap- 
propriate dressing  of  the  hair."  Remember- 
ing the  ever-present  french-roll  and  comb 
the  girls  laughed  gaily.  But  Embers  returned 
to  the  serious  in  a  moment,  giving  a  litttle  talk 

126 


m  ssffigm  n  m  g  b  ©  o 

on  the  meaning  of  becoming  a  Fire  Maker, 
one  of  those  who  really  keeps  the  fires  of  love 
burning,  wherever  they  are  found,  whose 
coming  brings  brightness  into  any  circle,  who 
makes  real  her  pledge  to  tend 

"The  fire  that  is  called 
The  love  of  man  for  man, 
The  love  of  man  for  God." 

Hiiteni  herself  initiated  the  Torch  Bearers, 
and  her  eyes  shone  tenderly,  for  Ki-lo-des-ka, 
her  youngest  daughter,  Ki-lo-des-ka  of  the 
golden  hair,  was  one  of  them.  She  had  this 
summer  assumed  responsibilities  with  the  girls 
in  camp  that  entitled  her  to  become  one  of 
those  who  pass  on  to  others  the  light  that  they 
themselves  have  received. 

When  the  list  of  honors  had  been  read,  Ce- 
ki-ca-ti  suggested  a  new  way  of  emphasizing 
them.  She  asked  all  who  had  received  home- 
craft honors  to  rise  and  sing  the  canning  song ; 
all  who  had  received  health  honors  a  boating 
song,  and  so  on  with  each  of  the  seven  crafts, 
ending  with  "My  Country,  'Tis  of  Thee"  for 
patriotism.  Then  everyone  sang  the  Work 
Song  with  motions,  to  fittingly  celebrate  the 

127 


work  which  they  had  done  in  winning  their 
honors. 

Woh-do-ke-ca  and  four  other  girls  had 
volunteered  to  act  out  the  tale  of  " Theseus 
and  the  Minotaur/'  and  this  they  did  in  an 
original  style  that  set  the  fashion  for  many 
charming  folk  stories  before  the  summer's 
end.  When  quiet  Su-ni  appeared  as  the  mino- 
taur,  on  all  fours  and  growling  dangerously, 
the  classic  beauty  of  the  myth  was  in  danger 
of  being  received  with  levity,  but  tragedy 
sobered  the  audience  at  the  sad  climax. 

THE  SONG  CONTEST 

"But  why  the  strange  unusual  tension 
Which  we  felt  throughout  the  meeting?" 

the  next  week's  Count  inquired,  and  an- 
swered itself  by  telling  how  the  maidens  were 
racking  their  brains  to  remember  the  words 
and  tunes  for  the  contest  that  was  to  follow 
this  first  bit  of  entertainment.  With  mingled 
terror  and  relief  they  heard  Hiiteni  ask  two 
of  the  guests  to  aid  Timanous  in  deciding  the 
victory. 

"Heavenly  I"  set  a  high  standard,  with  a 
spectacular  Torch  Bearer's  song,  in  which  ten 

128 


Singing  around  Hiiteni's  fire  place 


girls  wandered  in  the  darkness  with  unlighted 
torches  outside  of  the  circle,  then  stepping 
inside,  found  Hiiteni  to  light  their  torches  and 
to  give  them  the  privilege  of  passing  on  the 
light  to  others.  "The  Blue  Birds"  sang  a  little 
health  song  of  their  own,  sang  it  with  a  sweet- 
ness and  care  that  showed  how  well  their 
councilor  had  trained  them.  "The  King- 
fishers" disgraced  themselves,  but  amused  the 
company,  by  forgetting  their  song  in  the  mid- 
dle, though  they  always  insisted  it  was  stage 
fright.  At  all  events  the  song,  or  at  least  two 
lines  of  it,  won  instant  and  complete  popu- 
larity.   It  begins: 

"When  Helpful  blows  the  bugle, 
Down  to  the  dock  we  go!" 

and  is  sung  while  gently,  but  firmly,  holding 
your  nose.  For  Helpful  the  Little  had  not 
yet  learned  to  blow  the  bugle  and  breathe  at 
the  same  time. 

The  song  of  "Heavenly  II"  also  won  popu- 
larity, in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  girls  were 
seized  with  giggles  in  the  middle  of  it,  and 
left  brave  Te-ca-ya  to  finish  it  alone.  But 
their  song  was  rivalled  by  the  sweet  "Camp 
Fire  Good-night"  which  Kee-wee  had  written 

130 


m  isstf^s&s  u  ®  o  0  @  m 

for  "The  Chipmunks,"  and  taught  their  soft 
little  voices  to  sing  with  perfect  harmony. 
Another  rival  was  the  song  of  "Top  o'  the 
Rocks"  and  Fawassa,  which  Dis-ya-di  de- 
clared she  had  stolen  from  a  song  sparrow  that 
woke  her  every  morning.  These  three  the 
judges  asked  to  have  repeated,  and  finally  de- 
cided that  the  song  of  "The  Chipmunks"  de- 
served the  prize.  The  song  proved  the  Tight- 
ness of  their  choice  by  singing  itself  into  the 
hearts  of  everyone  in  camp  at  once,  and  from 
that  time  the  Council  Fires  were  seldom  closed 
with  any  other  tune. 


/2& 


Kee-wee 


131 


IX 

CAMPING  IN  THE  RAIN 

A  LL  summer  long  Alaska  had  been  making 
•**■  remarks  about  the  weather.  She  fre- 
quently said  that  in  her  country  you  could  not 
go  anywhere  without  planning  for  rain,  and 
that  it  seldom  disappointed  you,  while  Sebago- 
Wohelo  Camp  Fire  Girls  had  taken  trip  after 
trip  without  a  drop  of  rain  to  hinder.  She 
could  not  become  accustomed  to  it. 

At  some  time  she  must  have  spoken  loud 
enough  for  the  weather-man  to  hear,  and,  just 
to  prove  that  he  knew  how  to  send  rain  if  he 
wished,  he  must  have  been  ready  for  the 
Crooked  River  trip,  which  thoroughly  estab- 
lished his  reputation.  If  any  girl  thought 
that  the  best  he  could  do  was  the  soft,  drizzly 
rain  which  had  driven  the  Council  Fire  into 
the  teepee  on  the  Monday  night  before,  she 
was  to  find  herself  much  mistaken. 

The  annual  Crooked  River  Trip  was  one 
of  the  most  important  of  the  whole  summer. 
It  is  a  long  trip,  lasting  over  two  nights  in- 

132 


m  ESB^ffi^fcS  I1S0I21O3 

stead  of  one.  The  launch  tows  the  canoes  as 
far  up  the  Songo  River  and  its  Crooked 
branch  as  possible,  then  the  girls  land  and 
camp  for  a  night,  to  paddle  on  the  next  day 
to  a  camping  spot  farther  up  the  river.  The 
scenery  is  of  rare  beauty  and  a  pleasant  change 
from  the  rough,  hard  outlines  of  the  rocky  lake 
shore.  The  girls  had  heard  much  of  this  trip, 
they  felt  in  fine  trim  for  paddling,  and  every- 
one was  eager  to  go. 

THE  WEATHER  MAN  DOES  HIS 
WORST 

And,  presto,  change!  On  the  very  Wed- 
nesday morning  on  which  they  were  to  start 
the  sky  clouded  over  in  real  earnest!  Hiiteni 
looked  worried,  but  Ti-ya-to,  who  had  charge 
of  the  trip,  was  confident  that  she  could  keep 
the  girls  dry,  "even  if  it  did  rain  a  little,"  and 
of  course  the  girls  were  with  her  in  pleading 
to  go  just  the  same.  They  went — about  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  with  the  rain  beginning 
to  sprinkle  as  they  reached  the  dock.  The 
canoes  had  been  fitted  out  with  new  hooks 
and  staples  to  fasten  the  ropes  which  held 
them  together,  and  the  long  line  curled  into 
place  in  the  wake  of  the  "Red  Beak,"  and 

133 


®  m  m  n  b  ©  g^ap-sss  m 

glided  smoothly  away,  the  girls  smiling  de- 
fiance at  the  threatening  sky  above. 

They  were  but  out  of  reach  from  shore 
when  the  rain  came,  first  steadily,  then  in  tor- 
rents !  They  put  on  their  sweaters,  covered  the 
provisions  as  best  they  could,  and  rode  gaily 
on.  Helpful  the  Great  offered  to  take  them 
back,  but  they  scorned  his  offer.  Long  before 
they  reached  the  first-night  camping  ground 
the  rain  was  falling  in  such  sheets  that  further 
progress  seemed  inconvenient,  to  say  the  least, 
so  they  landed  and  sought  shelter  under  a  tree, 
and  the  "Red  Beak"  chugged  away  alone 
through  the  rain. 

"What  a  glorious  chance  to  earn  our  honor 
for  building  a  fire  in  wind  and  rain!"  cried 
Alaska.  They  set  to  work  with  such  materials 
as  they  could  find,  using  dead  branches  from 
the  trees  for  the  first  fuel,  then  gradually  add- 
ing damp  wood  as  the  fire  grew  strong  enough 
to  bear  it.  They  succeeded  at  last  in  getting  a 
splendid  blaze.  Then  they  cooked  and  ate  a 
very  welcome  dinner,  and  sat  down  around  the 
fire  to  spend  the  afternoon. 

By  some  magical  flash  of  forethought 
Alaska  had  brought  with  her  "Three  Men  in  a 
Boat,"  which,  under  any  circumstances,  is  one 

134 


m  sshs&ssb  n  m  g  s  ©  id 

of  the  funniest  books  that  can  possibly  be  read 
aloud.  Here,  under  conditions  that  made 
every  discomfort  of  that  famous  river  trip 
seem  real  and  plausible,  with  Alaska's  Eng- 
lish accent  and  humorous  tongue  to  add  to  the 
spice,  it  was  "roaringly  funny!"  The  girls  de- 
clared that  they  had  never  had  so  jolly  a  time 
in  their  lives!  They  forgot  the  wetness,  and 
time  slipped  away  almost  unnoticed  until  a 
sense  of  inner  want  reminded  them  of  its 
flight.  Then  they  cooked  and  ate  a  delicious 
supper  and  made  their  beds  for  the  night. 

WEIRD  NIGHT  WATCHES 

They  had  taken  a  vote  as  to  whether  or  not 
they  should  go  home,  but  every  vote  was  neg- 
ative. It  was  not  raining  so  hard  now,  and 
as  the  blankets  were  dry  they  were  sure  of  a 
comfortable  night.  They  turned  the  canoes 
over  for  shelter,  arranging  for  four  to  sleep 
together  with  their  heads  under  a  canoe  and 
the  ponchos  to  cover  them.  Ce-ki-ca-ti  and 
Ho-sa,  for  variety,  made  a  shelter  of  their 
poncho  by  hanging  it  over  them  on  four  sticks. 

When  these  arrangements  were  made  they 
settled  down  by  the  fire  for  more  of  "Three 
Men  in  a  Boat."    It  was  still  raining  quietly, 

135 


and  the  soft  swish  of  it  among  the  trees  was 
disturbed  by  gusts  of  wind  that  wailed  through 
the  wet  branches  over  their  heads.  As  dark- 
ness fell  the  weird  mystery  of  the  situation  in- 
creased. 

The  girls  were  just  in  the  mood  for  Ti-ya- 
ta's  suggestion  that  they  build  watch  fires  and 
tend  them  by  turns  all  night.  "It  will  seem 
more  cheerful,"  she  said,  "and  we  can  dry  each 
other's  shoes  and  stockings  while  we  watch." 
The  girls  went  to  work  at  once  to  build  fires, 
at  long  distances  apart,  and  to  divide  the  night 
into  watches.  At  two  of  the  fires  two  or  three 
girls  shared  each  watch,  but  the  third  was 
tended  by  a  single  maiden  through  every 
period  of  the  night. 

"How  did  you  feel  when  you  were  watch- 
ing by  your  fire?"  someone  asked  Ma-na  the 
next  morning. 

"Oh,  wonderful!  Like  some  old  pioneer 
sitting  alone  in  the  forest,"  she  answered. 

"And  it  was  the  strangest  thing,"  Embers 
added,  "to  wake  in  the  night  and  see  that  lone 
watcher  silhouetted  against  the  firelight!  Oh, 
it  was  indescribable!" 

"It  was  so  funny  to  be  wakened  and  told 
that  your  time  had  come  for  watching,"  Kani- 

137 


m  m  0  g  h  m  sa^^sss  m 

da-ka  added.  "Why,  I  thought  I  had  just 
fallen  asleep  when  Alaska  waked  me  and  said, 
'Don't  you  want  to  watch?'  I  thought  she 
meant  didn't  I  want  to  watch  when  my  turn 
came,  and  I  turned  over  and  went  to  sleep! 
She  had  to  shake  me  hard  before  I  understood. 
And  when  I  called  Wa-ya-ka  she  slipped  one 
arm  into  her  kimono,  then  dropped  asleep 
again  before  she  knew  it." 

Never  say  girls  do  not  sleep  on  camping 
trips  in  the  rain!  They  slept,  they  woke  well 
and  happy,  and  not  one  of  them  showed  the 
slightest  sign  of  a  cold,  either  then  or  later. 

MORNING!    UP  AND  ONWARD 

The  last  watcher  in  the  morning  had  seen 
a  rift  of  sunshine  break  through  the  clouds, 
and  by  the  time  all  gathered  for  breakfast  the 
sky  was  bright,  and  the  clouds  were  blowing 
away.  Then,  in  the  words  of  a  favorite  camp- 
ing song:  "The  pancakes  in  the  morning  built 
their  constitutions  up"  for  the  paddling  that 
was  before  them.  Ti-ya-ta  made  a  trip  to  the 
nearest  hamlet  for  a  few  supplies,  and  tele- 
phoned to  Hiiteni  that  all  was  well.  She 
brought  back  word  that  Hiiteni  had  offered 
to  send  the  launch  to  bring  them  home,  and 

138 


m  gBfts^Bs  n  ia  o  0  m  m 

they  laughed  at  the  thought.  They  had  had, 
they  declared,  the  greatest  experience  of  the 
whole  summer,  and  they  talked  together  for 
many  days  of  the  wonder  of  that  watch  ia 
the  night. 

The  banks  of  the  river,  as  they  paddled 
cautiously  up  its  shallow,  winding  course, 
were  hung  with  lovely  green  things,  fresh  as 
the  shower  could  make  them.  Goldenrod  was 
beginning  to  gleam  among  the  bushes,  and 
the  cardinal  flowers  glowed  like  tiny  blood 
drops  in  the  green.  A  king  bird  flashed  black 
and  white  in  the  trees.  A  dead  branch  bobbed 
up  and  down  in  the  water  like  a  snake,  and 
the  "old  girls"  laughed  as  they  remembered 
that  it  had  played  the  same  trick  in  other 
years.  Then  they  exclaimed:  "Oh,  there's  the 
place  we  camped  last  year,"  and  laughed,  and 
then  grew  wistful  over  the  memories.  Soon 
they  passed  the  place  where  the  boys  of  the 
camp  were  staying,  for  they,  too,  had  chosen 
Crooked  River  as  their  camping  ground,  and 
had  passed  a  delightful  night  in  the  rain.  To- 
mo-ke,  Helpful  the  Little,  Pi-ki-da's  brother 
and  Fuzzie's  ten-year-old  brother  Pete  made 
up  this  party,  and  good  campers  they  were, 
too! 

139 


0HS00  iss^^ias in 

The  final  camping  place  was  a  long  point, 
jutting  out  where  the  river  bent  sharply  back 
on  itself,  a  pleasant,  grassy  place,  that  looked 
very  familiar,  the  "old  girls"  said,  except  that 
many  of  the  trees  had  been  cut  down,  "leaving 
us  more  space  to  play  in."  It  had  been  a  long 
pull  up  the  river,  and  the  paddlers  were  glad 
enough  to  pull  up  their  canoes  and  stretch 
their  tense  muscles.  Some  of  them  were  bare- 
foot, for  in  several  places  it  had  been  neces- 
sary to  lift  the  canoes  over  the  rapids.  Their 
first  thought  now  was  to  get  into  bathing  suits, 
and  seek  still  further  the  acquaintance  of  the 
river  gods. 

AMUSEMENT  AND  OCCUPATION 
IN  CAMP 

Even  if  the  girls  had  not  brought  bead 
bands,  spoons  to  carve,  and  other  hand-craft 
materials,  they  would  have  been  busy  as  bees 
that  afternoon.  Ce-ki-ca-ti  and  Ho-sa  built 
a  fine  little  shelter  of  hemlock  boughs,  with  a 
wall  on  one  side  and  a  roof  over  it,  ready  to 
sleep  under  when  night  came. 

Alaska,  with  some  assistance  from  her 
girls,  made  a  real  Indian  bed  of  hemlock 
boughs,  laying  part  of  them  right  side  up  and 

140 


part  the  other  way  to  give  spring  to  the  bed, 
bordering  the  whole  with  logs.  Others  built 
hemlock  beds,  too,  but  Alaska's  was  the  thick- 
est and  softest,  and  the  girls  came  from  all 
over  the  camp  to  see  it.  Those  who  were  not 
similarly  busy  were  sitting  under  the  trees 
making  baskets  of  pine  needles  under  the  in- 
structions of  Mna-ka,  who  had  thoughtfully 
brought  raffia  and  needles  for  the  purpose. 
This  occupation  proved  so  fascinating  that  she 
could  scarcely  supply  materials  for  all. 

For  supper  there  was  corn  chowder,  with 
biscuit  baked  in  reflecting  ovens,  which  the 
girls  had  ingeniously  made  of  syrup  cans  cut 
and  bent  into  shape.  After  supper  there  was 
entertainment  for  all  at  the  "Crooked  Cuc- 
koos' Curiorium,"  where  massage  was  offered 
at  a  modest  price  to  two  victims  at  a  time, 
with  the  privilege  of  resting  on  Alaska's  bed 
and  listening  to  "pleasant  conversation/'  The 
proceeds  were  to  go  as  Camp  Fire  dues.  So 
many  applied  that  some  dates  were  left  un- 
filled until  the  next  trip.  While  they  waited 
their  turns  the  girls  took  delightful  dips,  or 
watched  the  aesthetic  dancing  that  was  going 
on  far  back  among  the  trees  near  Ce-ki-ca-ti's 
and  Ho-sa's   shelter.     After  these  strenuous 

141 


amusements  it  was  a  luxury  indeed  to  sur- 
render to  the  softness  of  Alaska's  bed,  while 
the  faithful  little  assistant  kept  a  merry  fire 
burning  close  by,  and  Alaska  and  He-ta-ya 
kept  the  conversation  going  no  less  merrily 
over  their  patients. 

Before  breakfast  in  the  morning  a  number 
of  the  girls  were  off  to  gather  branches  with 
which  to  make  portable  Indian  beds,  and  the 
few  Wohelo  knives  that  had  come  to  Crooked 
River  were  in  great  demand.  Meanwhile 
others  went  to  a  neighboring  farm-house  to 
buy  milk,  and  breakfast  was  soon  on  the  way, 
with  one  or  two  fancy  styles  in  cooking  the 
eggs,  such  as  poaching  in  milk  and  baking  in 
hot  sand.  Cocoa  and  toast  gave  the  generous- 
hearted  an  opportunity  to  wait  upon  those 
who  were  busy  over  fires  or  hand  work. 

fillTENTS  ARRIVAL 

Hiiteni  had  been  detained  from  sharing  this 
trip  by  a  necessary  journey  to  Portland,  but 
in  the  middle  of  the  morning  she  arrived,  and 
was  greeted  with  cheers  of  delight.  She 
brought  with  her  a  crate  of  fresh  peaches, 
which  also  received  a  cheer  when  they  made 
their  appearance  at  dinner.     In  addition  to 

142 


m  gB£cf?MBS  li^000 


The  camp  mascot 

this  she  made  everyone's  happiness  complete 
by  saying  "yes"  to  their  eager  plea  for  an- 
other day  at  Crooked  River.  As  she  had 
brought  the  mail  with  her,  there  was  nothing 
in  the  world  for  which  to  return,  and  the  girls 
felt  as  if  they  could  remain  here  for  the  rest 
of  the  summer. 

Their  energies  now  were  redoubled.  With 
the  aid  of  Ti-ya-ta's  hatchet  they  cut  down 
hemlock  boughs  and  built  more  shelters  (care 
being  taken  not  to  injure  the  trees),  eagerly 
calling  Ce-ki-ca-ti  to  approve  them  so  that 

143 


m  m  m  n  b  §  rG^os  m 

they  could  receive  their  honors  for  the  work. 
They  made  more  pine  baskets,  finding  beauti- 
ful long  needles  for  the  purpose,  and  enjoyed 
the  eager  search  for  balsam  to  carry  home  for 
pillows. 

At  noon  the  boys  made  a  visit  to  the  camp, 
bringing  with  them  fish  for  dinner.  Each  girl 
was  given  a  fish  to  clean  and  cook  for  herself, 
with  the  promise  of  a  local  honor  for  doing  so. 
The  peaches  which  Hiiteni  had  brought  com- 
pleted a  sumptuous  feast. 

Through  the  afternoon  the  girls  paddled 
around  on  the  river,  wrote  letters,  worked  at 
pine  baskets,  while  Alaska  read  more  from 
"Three  Men  in  a  Boat,"  and  were  happy, 
either  quietly  or  actively,  according  to  their 
inclination.  They  retired  early,  with  a  beau- 
tiful, lazy  moon  shining  down  upon  them,  and 
slept  as  sweetly  in  their  beds  of  hemlock  or  of 
blankets  on  the  grassy  earth,  as  if  they  had 
been  in  their  own  far-away  homes. 

HOMEWARD  BOUND 

Before  they  could  realize  it  someone  was 
singing,  "Wake  ye,  arise !"  and  it  was  five 
o'clock  and  time  to  be  off  to  meet  the  launch! 
As  the  next  week's  Count  said : 

144 


m  !SBft?M3S  U  0  E3  B  @  m 


Breakfast 

"Very  early  rose  the  maidens, 
And  they  spent  no  time  in  fooling, 
But  they  hastened  on  through  breakfast, 
Looked  at  food  and  thought  they  ate  it, 
Packed  their  blankets  and  their  baskets, 
Took  canoes  and  then  sped  downward 
Just  as  if  pursued  by  white  men." 

There  is  a  tradition  about  the  return  from 
Crooked  River  which  would  probably  suggest 
itself  anew  every  summer  even  if  it  had  never 
been  heard  of  before.    Instinctively  the  girls 

145 


m  u  fi  n  b  ©  gft^aas  eq 

began  to  decorate  their  canoes  with  the 
branches  of  balsam  they  had  gathered,  and  as 
they  passed  down  the  river,  now  one  canoe, 
now  another,  drew  up  along  the  banks  to 
gather  more  boughs  and  blossoms,  willows, 
goldenrod,  berries,  and  ferns,  to  transform 
their  craft  into  fairy  barques,  with  drooping 
vines  of  clematis  to  twine  in  the  hair  of  the 
fairy  princesses  who  rode  in  them.  One  canoe 
bore  at  its  prow  a  purple  thistle  fastened  to  a 
pine  branch.  The  boys,  who  had  joined  the 
procession  on  its  way,  had  a  small  pine  tree 
planted  in  the  middle  of  their  craft.  There 
was  variety,  and  everywhere  loveliness  and  en- 
chantment in  the  line  of  ten  canoes  that  fol- 
lowed the  "Red  Beak"  down  the  Songo,  and 
out  into  the  open  lake. 

The  girls  were  contentedly  busy  with  their 
hand  work,  or  idly  talking  and  singing.  Two 
in  the  war-canoe  were  comparing  the  gems  of 
poetry  they  knew,  in  an  effort  to  find  the 
twenty-five  lines  needed  for  one  of  the  re- 
quired honors.  They  were  a  trifle  chagrined 
to  find  how  much  they  thought  they  knew  but 
did  not,  but  finally  recalled  several  short 
poems  that  more  than  met  the  requirement. 
One  of  these  was  Tennyson's  "Crossing  the 

146 


Bar,"  which  gained  a  new  meaning  out  on  the 
water,  with  the  memory  of  lake  sunsets  about 
them : 

"  Sunset  and  evening  star, 
And  one  clear  call  for  me; 
And  may  there  be  no  moaning  on  the  bar 
When  I  put  out  to  sea." 

The  lake  was  quiet  and  the  canoes  glided 
smoothly  along,  making  as  rapid  time  as  pos- 
sible in  order  to  meet  the  steamer  at  the  South 
Casco  dock.  For  on  that  steamer  were  Madge, 
an  "old  girl,"  and  two  "new  girls"  who  had 
warm  friends  at  camp  waiting  to  give  them  a 
welcome.  They  arrived  on  time,  and  the  "Red 
Beak"  circled  about,  swinging  the  long  line  of 
flower-decked  canoes  gracefully  after  it,  while 
the  people  on  the  steamer  crowded  to  the  decks 
to  watch.  As  the  ribbon  of  canoes  rested  by 
the  dock  the  girls  sang  a  cheer  of  welcome  to 
the  new  arrivals,  then  they  swung  away  to 
camp. 

"You  may  go  in  for  a  dip  when  you  have 
made  up  your  beds,"  Hiiteni  announced.  And 
the  girls  welcomed  the  word  with  delight,  for 
their  faces  were  burning  from  the  long  ride 
in  the  sun.     So  they  found  the  best  delight 

147 


m  m  m  o  b  m  ^^sts  m 

that  homecoming  held  for  them,  in  plunging 
from  their  own  dock  and  splashing  in  their 
own  clear  waters,  which  seemed  more  crystal- 
clear  than  ever  in  contrast  to  the  brown  water 
of  Crooked  River. 

If  you  should  meet  a  girl  somewhere  who 
showed  you  a  wooden  salad  spoon  which  she 
had  decorated  with  carvings,  and  she  should  tell 
you  that  the  zigzag  pattern  on  the  handle  was 
for  Crooked  River,  could  you  guess  what  that 
spoon  meant  to  her?  If  on  the  bowl  of  the 
spoon  she  had  carved  an  overturned  canoe, 
with  four  little  heads  under  it  peeping  out 
from  under  a  blanket,  could  you  imagine  the 
memories  and  dreams  which  lurked  in  the  carv- 
ing on  that  spoon? 


He-wan-ka 


148 


X 
THE  BLAZED  TRAIL 

T7  VERY  week  in  camp  is  lived  over  twice, 
■"  once  as  the  days  go  by,  and  again  at  the 
Council  Fire  the  following  Monday,  when  the 
Count  brings  it  all  back  with  a  fresh  personal 
interest.  The  Crooked  River  trip  was  so  great 
an  event  that  it  has  been  celebrated  in  song, 
as  well  as  in  the  classic  lines  of  the  Count,  for 
most  opportunely  the  second  song  contest  fol- 
lowed before  the  rare  experiences  of  the  trip 
were  forgotten. 

This  contest  was  open  to  individuals  in- 
stead of  tents,  and  the  tunes  were  not  neces- 
sarily to  be  original,  provided  they  were  not 
commonly  known.  Before  the  contest  a  notice 
had  appeared  on  the  bulletin  suggesting  as 
subjects: 

The  Barcarole  of  the  "Red  Beak" 
Three  Girls  in  a  Boat 
That  Tin  Can  Reflecting  Oven 
Earning  Money's  All  the  Rage 

149 


m  m  m  n  s  @  samara  m 

Ode  to  the  Mail  Bag 
Threnody  to  the  Teepee 

These  subjects  were  not  noticeably  adopt- 
ed, perhaps  because  no  one  but  the  originator 
of  them  could  have  lived  up  to  their  humor, 
but  the  results  of  the  contest  were  quite  en- 
tertaining enough. 

THE  SECOND  SONG  CONTEST 

The  ceremonial  was  over,  and  all  had  been 
put  in  a  gay  humor  by  a  vivid  rendering  of 
the  story  of  the  Faithful  Servant,  in  which 
the  princess  and  the  servant  had  cantered  ju- 
bilantly about  on  imaginary  horses,  in  a  way 
that  prevented  anyone's  taking  the  scene  with 
entire  seriousness,  even  though  the  beauty  of 
its  lesson  was  not  lost.  Twin  sisters  from  Hol- 
land, who  had  come  to  visit  the  camp,  gave  a 
folk  dance  in  wooden  shoes,  with  native  cos- 
tumes improvised  for  the  occasion,  and  made 
a  warm  place  for  themselves  in  the  heart  of 
the  camp.  Hiiteni  then  opened  the  song  con- 
test by  calling  upon  the  girls  in  turn  around 
the  circle. 

There  was  a  sound  of  smothered  laughter 
when  she  started  with  Ho-sa,  but  Ho-sa  rose 

150 


m  ssftEgE&s  11  n  0  ©  0 

bravely,  and  three  other  maidens  with  her. 
They  were,  Ho-sa  announced,  the  poorest 
singers  in  camp,  but  they  had  decided  to  con- 
tribute their  mite  to  the  occasion,  and  the} 
would  award  a  prize  the  next  morning  to  any- 
one who  guessed  the  tune  of  their  song. 

Amid  roars  of  laughter,  they  sang  bravely 
through  their  three  stanzas,  without  once  mak- 
ing the  mistake  of  striking  the  same  key  at  the 
same  time.  The  words,  with  their  mixture  of 
slang  and  cleverness,  were  reminiscent  oi 
nothing  in  particular.  Next  morning  one 
maiden  guessed  the  tune  correctly — "Sing 
Tangent,  Co-tangent,"  but  another  had  been 
equally  sure  that  it  was  "Home,  Sweet  Home." 
The  four,  who  afterward  came  to  be  known 
as  the  "Crow  Quartette,"  were  heartily  en- 
cored, and  given  the  fame  they  deserved  for 
this  noble  sacrifice  of  themselves  to  the  public 
amusement. 

Each  girl  who  had  written  a  song  had  in- 
vited a  select  little  group  to  sing  it  for  her, 
and  Te-ca-ya,  who  had  the  best  soprano  voice 
in  camp,  and  a  remarkable  talent  for  keeping 
the  tune,  had  been  quite  distracted  by  the  de- 
mand for  her  services.  She  was  called  upon 
now  to  bring  her  guitar  and  assist  in  render- 

151 


m  m  m  n  0  ©  tga^a^ass  m 

ing  Embers'  newest  song,  written  to  the  tune 
of  "Chapel  Steps,"  which  was  given  the  prize 
for  that  evening,  and  has  since  become  part  of 
the  regular  repertoire  of  camp. 

CROOKED  RIVER 

"Here  in  the  dusk  at  twilight  time, 
When  sunset  glows  are  o'er, 
We  gather  'round  the  laughing  fire 
To  sing  our  songs  once  more. 
The  drooping  branches  of  the  pines 
In  silence  hover  near, 
While  shadows  of  old  camping  days 
Come  creeping  back  to  hear. 

"From  every  haunted  rocky  nook, 
From  every  listening  tree, 
A  phantom  voice  comes  stealing  forth 
To  join  our  melody. 
And  visions  of  old  fire-lit  nights 
Come  creeping  back  again, 
While  touched  with  fire,  a  silent  watch 
Sits  lonely  in  the  rain. 
Then  as  the  flickering  firelight  dies 
To  dim  the  drowsy  glow, 
We  listen  to  the  shadowy  voice 
Of  silent  Wohelo. 

152 


With  dreamy  eyes  we  turn  away 
And  leave  the  dying  light 
To  join  the  phantom  memories 
That  linger  in  the  night." 

Alaska  and  He-ta-ya  were  also  reminis- 
cent of  Crooked  River  with  their  surprising 
song  of  the  "Crooked  Cuckoos  Curiorium," 
the  chorus  of  which  has  ever  since  been  ren- 
dered with  an  abrupt,  decisive  ending, 

"Mas-sage  for-evah!" 

in  memory  of  Alaska's  accent,  about  which 
she  so  good-naturedly  submitted  to  endless 
teasing. 

SUPPERS,  TENNIS  TOURNAMENTS 
AND  OTHER  THINGS 

On  Tuesday  evening,  when  the  suppers 
were  cooked  at  the  tents,  "Niebelungen"  en- 
tertained guests  in  royal  fashion,  with  a  menu 
in  French,  and  floral  decorations  by  "an  expert 
from  New  York."  Eggs  were  served  in  sev- 
eral styles,  and  fudge.  Wo-do-ke-ca  came 
sumptuously  attired  as  the  "Comtesse  de  la 
Brie  de  Sauce  Mayonnaise,"  with  an  insignifi- 
cant "Compte"  on  her  arm,  and  Embers  and 
Mna-ka,   as  "George  de  Thames"   and  "Sir 

153 


0  U  M OB @ 


SEBAGO-WOHELO    fTl 
CAMP  FIRE  GIRLS    LL1 


|  **  «r  Jk"*^  i;                ■S&3 

JBxSP 

SBi  ^  ■  v~-  ;f^Bspi  j&Af^Mh 

^HP" 

Primitive  weaving 

Harris  Montmorency,"  flirted  shockingly  with 
pretty  Ma-na,  who  was  waiting  upon  the 
feast. 

It  was  at  this  time  also  that  the  famous 
tennis  tournament  between  the  "Darting  Drag- 
ons" and  the  "Crawling  Crabs"  took  place.  If 
tennis  has  not  been  mentioned  before  it  has 
been  chiefly  for  lack  of  space,  for  nearly  every 
morning  after  service,  when  Hiiteni  said  that 
there  were  no  more  notices,  Ho-sa  had  bobbed 
up  mildly  to  remark,  "I'd  like  to  say  that  So- 
and-so   will    play    So-and-so    in    tennis    this 

154 


morning,"  and  later  would  come  to  tear  them 
cruelly  away  from  the  bungalow  where  Mna- 
ka  had  them  busily  weaving  rugs. 

A  mock  war  had  grown  up  over  the  naming 
of  the  new  crew  of  the  war-canoe.  The  "Dart- 
ing Dragons"  and  the  "Crawling  Crabs"  were 
about  evenly  divided;  songs  and  badges  were 
adopted,  and  each  side  vigorously  defended 
its  own  selection. 

So  it  was  agreed  to  have  a  tennis  tourna- 
ment between  the  two  divisions,  and,  as  Ti- 
manous  had  arrived  in  camp  again,  the  affair 
started  off  gaily,  with  Timanous  and  Ce-ki- 
ca-ti  against  To-mo-ke  and  Ki-lo-des-ka,  and 
went  on  for  perhaps  a  week  in  the  intervals  of 
other  things. 

But  there  was  little  sign  of  a  division  in 
camp  when  they  all  met  Thursday  evening  in 
the  bungalow  for  a  Japanese  tea.  The  supper 
committee  for  that  evening  had  decorated  the 
bungalow  charmingly  with  ferns,  flowers, 
trailing  evergreens,  and  Japanese  lanterns. 
They  had  inveigled  To-mo-ke  and  his  sis- 
ter Dis-ya-da,  both  of  whom  had  grown 
up  in  Japan,  into  giving  a  demonstration  of 
a  real  Japanese  tea  ceremony.  After  that  the 
refreshments  were  served  on  plates  decorated 

155 


with  ferns,  passed  by  the  supper  committee 
clad  in  Japanese  kimonos.  Besides  the  usual 
sandwiches,  milk  and  cake,  there  was  rice  to 
be  eaten  with  chopsticks,  and  the  efforts  to 
master  this  art  contributed  not  a  little  to  the 
fun  of  the  evening.  A  gay  time  followed  in 
the  bungalow,  with  games  and  a  general  frolic, 
ending  with  music  from  Helpful' s  violin. 

On  Friday  came  the  traditional  trip  to  Jor- 
dan Bay,  and  the  girls  set  merrily  out  with 
ponchos  over  their  shoulders,  singing  the  good 
old  Jordan  Bay  Song  which  still  fits  as  well 
as  when  it  was  written.    The  first  stanza  goes : 

"On  a  sunny  day,  sunny  day, 
Yes,  a  very  warm  day, 
We  stowed  our  stuff  all  away, 
Set  out  at  a  clip, 
With  our  grub  for  the  trip, 
And  our  ponchos 
Slipping  along,  slipping  along, 
All  tied  up  wrong, 
But  we  hiked  with  a  song 
For  Jordan  Bay." 

The  girls  were  divided  into  two  parties,  the 
older  ones  to  follow  the  trail  blazed  by  Ho-sa 
and  Ge-me-wun-ac,  the  younger  to  follow  Ki- 

156 


m  SB^i^B  IIS  0§  ID 

lo-des-ka  and  Alaska.  There  was  an  old  lum- 
ber road  that  they  might  have  followed,  but 
the  blazed  trail  was  much  more  romantic,  and 
it  brought  them  out  of  the  woods  by  the  side 
of  the  lake  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from 
where  they  meant  to  be,  which,  taking  all 
things  into  consideration,  was  not  at  all  bad. 
They  all  sat  down  by  the  lake  and  looked  at 
each  other  with  faces  flushed,  but  happy.  It  is 
easy  enough  to  follow  the  beaten  road,  but 
there  is  a  special  zest  in  traveling  for  those 
who  are  brave  enough  to  blaze  their  own  paths. 
They  came  marching  back  into  camp  the  next 
day  in  a  long  line  that  wound  over  the  paths 
by  the  tennis  court,  down  to  the  bungalow, 
and  back  again,  singing  gaily  as  they  went 
an  Indian  refrain, 

"Mu  j  -  j  e-mu-ke-sin-aw-yaw-yon," 
which  means,  appropriately  enough,   "Worn 
out  shoes  I  am  a' wearing,"  and  is  first-class 
to  march  by. 

"THE  HEAVENLIES"  BALL 

There  was  a  long  rest  Saturday  afternoon, 
for  it  was  the  night  of  "The  Heavenlies' " 
ball,  and  Loh-ah  and  To-ka,  who  had  the  fes- 
tivities in  charge,  had  saved  everyone  the  em- 

157 


barrassment  of  choosing  partners  by  pairing 
off  the  whole  camp  for  this  occasion.  They 
had  also  firmly  proclaimed  at  dinner  that  good 
clothes  positively  were  not  allowed. 

This  was  a  challenge  to  the  ingenuity  that 
could  not  be  lightly  ignored.  The  loft  was 
tormented  with  visitors  searching  the  proper- 
ties' box  and  trunks  for  clothes  that  could  not 
be  classed  as  "good."  What  they  found  was 
merely  raw  material  for  the  skill  of  the  cos- 
tume artists  who  suddenly  developed  among 
them,  and  most  of  the  work  of  genius  was  per- 
formed in  the  hours  "between  the  dark  and 
the  daylight."  The  Japanese  lanterns  over 
the  tennis  court  were  glowing  in  the  gathering 
darkness  when  the  couples  began  to  arrive. 

Ta-ku,  all  black  and  shiny,  and  wrapped 
in  a  brilliant  shawl,  sailed  stoutly  in  on  the 
arm  of  a  dusky  gallant,  who  proved  to  be  one 
of  the  sportive  twins.  Woh-do-ke-ca  came  in 
flowing  robes,  with  a  magnificent  turban,  her 
exuberant  fancy  making  her  for  the  time  a 
real  Haroun-al-Raschid  and  transforming 
the  maiden  in  flowing  veil  who  walked  beside 
her  into  a  very  lovely  Sheherezade.  No  one 
was  surprised,  for  it  was  well  known  that 
artistic  Woh-do-ke-ca  kept  a  variety  of  rich- 

158 


m  Si^iEgESS  U  0  O  0  ©  ED 

hued  scarfs  and  draperies  at  hand  for  occa- 
sions like  this,  but  Ta-ku  really  did  attract 
some  attention  by  appearing  as  a  cover  de- 
sign from  Vogue  in  a  waist  made  of  middy 
ties,  and  a  skirt  of  a  yard  or  two  of  cheap  but 
brilliant  material  she  had  bought  in  the  vil- 
lage that  afternoon. 

A  tam-o'-shanter  and  a  plaid  hair  ribbon 
turned  Wa-ya-ka  into  a  witching  Scotch  lad- 
die, while  He-wan-ka  and  Alaska,  with  pow- 
dered hair,  both  looked  as  if  they  had  just 
stepped  from  some  colonial  portrait.  Last 
came  Helpful  the  Great,  much  greater  than 
usual  by  reason  of  a  number  of  pillows  stuffed 
into  the  immense  cotton  wrapper  which  he 
wore  belted  with  a  rope.  He  had  a  large, 
flowery  hat,  and  introduced  himself  as 
"Lucy,"  in  a  weak,  falsetto  voice  that  might 
have  upset  the  dignity  of  the  judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  When  he  danced  he  bounced 
like  a  great  ship  on  a  stormy  sea,  whirling  his 
helpless  partner  around  in  a  jubilant  career, 
regardless  of  any  unlucky  mortal  who  failed 
to  elude  them. 

There  was  a  grand  march,  and  then  danc- 
ing, to  the  music  of  the  victrola,  which  had 
been  brought  from  the  bungalow.    Everyone 

159 


m  m  m  n  b  ®  ^»s  m 

danced,  whether  skilful  or  not,  except  the 
chaperons,  who  had  powdered  their  hair,  and 
sat  demurely  by  the  fire.  All  talked  and 
flirted  and  were  happy. 

After  a  while  the  master  of  ceremonies 
announced  that  there  would  be  a  prize  for  the 
best  dancing,  and  began  calling  off  the  poor- 
est couples,  until  at  last  there  was  no  one  left 
on  the  floor  but  "Lucy"  and  her  slender,  faith- 
ful partner,  dancing  alone  in  all  their  glory. 
This  couple  was  awarded  a  loving  cup,  which 
was  doubtless  afterward  returned  to  the 
kitchen  shelf.  Refreshments  of  grape- juice 
and  cake  were  served  in  generous  quantities, 
and  at  ten  o'clock  the  ball  of  the  season  came 
to  a  happy  close. 


To-he-ha 


160 


'Birds  and  breezes  make  music  at  meal-time' 


XI 


IN  CASE  OF  ACCIDENT 

A  MYSTERY  was  in  the  air.  Helpful  the 
-**  Great  had  held  a  private  conversation 
with  every  tent  with  regard  to  its  own  share  in 
the  events  of  the  day,  but  just  what  each  tent 

161 


0  u  gi  n  0  ©  s^Gr°^°o%  in 

was  going  to  do,  or  when  it  was  going  to  hap- 
pen no  one  felt  sure,  and  when  the  time  really 
came  all  were  quite  taken  by  surprise. 

On  Thursday,  at  swimming  hour,  Wa-han- 
ka  somehow  lost  control  of  herself  in  the 
water,  though  she  was  an  excellent  swimmer. 
The  girls  were  making  so  much  noise  that  the\ 
did  not  hear  her  cries  until  someone  sitting  on 
the  bank  noticed  and  called  out  to  them.  Ki- 
lo-des-ka  brought  the  unconscious  girl  to  the 
dock,  and,  by  artificial  respiration  and  rub- 
bing, restored  her  to  consciousness.  The  girls 
stood  around  rather  helplessly,  vowing  never 
again  to  be  so  noisy  in  their  sport  that  they 
could  not  hear  if  anyone  was  in  danger. 

Dinner-time  came,  and  everyone  was  ab- 
sorbed in  removing  the  first  keen  edge  from 
the  usual  camp  appetite,  when  a  cry  of  "Oh, 
she's  fainted!"  drew  attention  to  poor  I-ka- 
ya-dan,  who  was  leaning  heavily  on  the  shoul- 
der of  her  nearest  neighbor.  Embers  rushed 
around  the  table  with  surprising  promptness, 
and  in  a  twinkling  they  had  I-ka-ya-dan  on 
her  back  on  the  bench,  with  her  feet  higher 
than  her  head  and  her  clothing  loosened.  A 
glass  of  water  dashed  in  her  face  brought  her 
rather  abruptly  to  consciousness,  vowing  ven- 

162 


m  ssffigns  u  a  n  0  m  m 

geance  on  Embers  for  being  too  much  in  earn- 
est. The  girls  at  this  table  now  tried  to  pre- 
tend that  they  had  known  all  the  time  it  was 
not  a  real  faint,  and  made  fun  of  He-wan-ka 
for  giving  the  alarm. 

Embers  was  still  more  unfortunate,  for 
she  choked  severely  on  a  fishbone — there  was 
no  fish  for  dinner,  but  that  is  a  small  detail — 
and  Ti-ya-ta,  with  the  assistance  of  several 
stalwart  maidens,  took  great  delight  in  stand- 
ing her  on  her  head.  No  sooner  had  she  re- 
covered from  this  than  she  swallowed  some 
poison  which  made  her  deathly  ill.  Warm 
water  and  mustard  were  fortunately  at  hand, 
as  well  as  a  raw  egg.  Embers  pretended  to 
swallow  both,  and  leaned  over  the  railing  ex- 
pressively. Then  I-ka-ya-da  splashed  the 
mustard  water  down  her  back  in  revenge  for 
the  fainting  incident,  and  both  appeared  to 
have  recovered  fully. 

FIRE  AND  DISASTER 

It  was  a  bit  difficult  to  rest  after  this  ex- 
citement, but  the  girls  went  quietly  to  their 
tents  at  the  usual  hour.  A  little  group  of  the 
older  girls  had  gathered  by  special  permission 
on  the  craft-house  porch  for  "Otherwise  Phyl- 

163 


m  m  m  n  0  ©  g^a^ss  in 

lis,"  which  one  of  the  councilors  was  reading 
aloud,  and  just  as  the  bugle  sounded  for  the 
end  of  rest-hour,  she  dropped  her  book  with 
a  start  at  a  cry  of  "Fire,  fire!"  All  rushed  to 
the  bungalow  to  find  flames  and  smoke  pour- 
ing out  of  the  fireplace.  "Get  your  pails!" 
came  the  order  from  Helpful,  and  very  soon 
all  the  girls  were  forming  a  line  from  the  dock 
up  to  the  bungalow.  Pail  after  pail  of  water 
was  passed  up,  till  the  fire  was  declared  under 
control.  Some  sheets  of  tar  paper  lay  half 
consumed  on  the  hearth,  with  little  wreaths  of 
smoke  still  curling  about  them. 

He-ta-ya,  eager  as  usual  to  be  in  the  midst 
of  things,  had  somehow  got  her  hand  into  the 
fire,  and  was  moaning  with  pain  when  the  fire 
brigade  came  into  the  bungalow.  Ta-o  rushed 
to  her  rescue,  made  her  hold  her  hand  in  a  pail 
of  water  to  exclude  the  air  until  she  could  at- 
tend to  her,  and  finding  the  burn  a  bad  one, 
covered  it  with  oil  and  wrapped  it  in  a  soft 
bandage.  He-ta-ya  bore  the  pain  bravely  and 
was  soon  sitting  up  on  a  bench,  a  trifle  pale 
but  otherwise  quite  herself. 

Surely  no  chain  of  accidents  was  ever  more 
swift  or  terrible  than  this.  One  after  another, 
things  happened  so  rapidly  that  there  was  not 

164 


a  moment's  rest!  Mna-ka  rushed  in  with  a 
long  cut  on  her  arm  and  red  drops  splashed 
sickeningly  about  it.  Helpful,  who  in  a  year 
was  to  receive  his  medical  degree,  and  spoke 
with  the  latest  authority,  said  the  wound  had 
bled  enough  to  cleanse  it  better  than  antisep- 
tics could  do,  and  Mna-ka  sat  on  the  floor, 
while  Woh-do-ke-ca  and  Embers,  under  Help- 
ful's  guidance,  laid  a  neat  strip  of  surgeon's 
plaster  on  each  side  of  the  cut  and  sewed  the 
two  strips  together.  Helpful  explained  that 
this  was  a  less  painful  method  than  sewing  the 
cut  itself,  and  that  he  would  have  used  it 
when  I-wa-da-ka  cut  her  knee  on  the  saw  if 
there  had  not  been  several  cuts  side  by  side, 
so  that  there  was  no  place  for  the  plaster. 

"Oh,  oh!"  wailed  Wan-ye-ca's  voice  sud- 
denly on  the  tense  air.  "I've  got  a  sliver  in 
my  hand!"  Kee-wee,  her  councilor,  pulled  it 
promptly  out  and  held  it  up  to  view.  No 
wonder  she  had  cried — the  sliver  was  at  least 
ten  inches  long!  This  was  followed  by  Ni- 
ma-ha  finding  a  bean  up  her  nose,  and  they 
gave  her  pepper  to  make  her  sneeze  it  out. 
With  young  children  like  "The  Chipmunks" 
such  acidents  as  these  are  to  be  expected  at 
any  moment! 

165 


Q 


Several  of  the  girls  were  sitting  on  benches 
beside  the  ladder  into  the  loft,  and  Ge-me- 
wun-ac  was  climbing  down  to  give  her  assist- 
ance to  Ni-ma-ha,  when,  by  mistake,  she 
stepped  from  the  second  round  to  the  floor 
and  sat  there  all  in  a  heap,  nursing  a  sprained 
ankle.  She  did  not  scream,  for  she  was  not 
the  kind  to  scream — nor,  for  that  matter,  to 
fall  down  ladders,  but  this  was  a  day  of  sur- 
prises. The  girls  wasted  no  time  wondering, 
but  held  the  ankle  first  in  cold  water,  then  in 
hot,  to  keep  the  circulation  active  and  so  pre- 
vent swelling,  and  then  bound  it  up  firmly 
with  adhesive  plaster,  to  hold  the  ligaments 
in  place  until  they  could  heal.  They  prom- 
ised to  take  the  bandage  off  every  day  and  rub 
the  ankle  to  keep  it  from  becoming  stiff. 

SERIOUS  INJURIES 

Loh-ah,  being  a  tentmate  of  Ge-me-wun- 
ac's,  had  fallen  in  an  attempt  to  get  near 
enough  to  help  her.  Ga-oh  and  Ho-sa  picked 
her  up  and  examined  her  injuries,  which  were 
many  and  varied.  Her  hand  was  badly  cut, 
her  head  hurt,  and  her  shoulder  broken. 

They  found  a  triangular  bandage,  and 
used  it  first  as  a  tourniquet  to  stop  the  blood 

167 


m  m  m  n  s  gi  ^^s  to 

from  flowing  into  the  hand,  as  they  knew 
from  the  rich  red  blood  which  was  spurting 
from  it,  that  an  artery  had  been  cut.  A  pencil, 
slipped  through  the  knot  of  the  bandage,  and 
twisted  round  and  round,  answered  the  pur- 
pose, and  checked  the  dangerous  loss  of  blood 
at  once. 

Then  they  bandaged  the  hand  neatly,  and 
removed  the  triangular  bandage,  which  was 
needed  for  the  head.  They  laid  it  with  the 
base  over  her  forehead,  wrapped  it  around  her 
head,  brought  the  two  corners  around  to  the 
forehead  and  tied  them  in  a  square  knot,  then 
tucked  the  corners  in  at  the  back. 

The  same  bandage  was  used  to  make  a 
sling  for  the  broken  shoulder,  but  when  it  was 
discovered  that  her  knee  had  been  hurt  also, 
Helpful  said  a  different  treatment  was  needed. 
He  brought  out  a  roll  of  straight  bandage, 
properly  sterilized,  and  the  girls  bandaged 
the  knee  in  figure-eight  style,  winding  it  first 
above  the  joint,  then  below,  with  a  twist  each 
time  to  make  it  smooth,  and  finally  passing  it 
over  the  joint  itself,  thus  leaving  the  knee 
free  to  move.  Poor  Loh-ah  was  soon  able  to 
walk  a  little,  though  it  was  some  time  before 
the  signs  of  her  other  injuries  disappeared. 

168 


m  gssff^g^  u  m  n  m  m  m 

A  little  drama  of  very  tender  nature  was 
now  enacted  before  the  fireplace.  A  young 
man  was  walking  arm  in  arm  with  his  sweet- 
heart, when  a  cruel  bee  stung  the  maiden, 
leaving  its  barbed  stinger  in  her  arm,  and  she 
cried  out  with  pain.  Instantly  he  pulled  the 
stinger  out,  then  placed  mud  over  the  wound 
to  counteract  the  acid  by  its  alkali,  and  ap- 
parently the  maiden  recovered  and  lived 
happy  ever  after.  Helpful  remarked  that  if 
it  had  been  either  a  wasp  or  a  hornet,  which 
have  pointed  stingers,  the  stinger  would  not 
have  been  left  in,  but  that  with  a  honey  bee 
sting  the  first  thing  to  do  is  to  take  the  stinger 
out  and  then  apply  the  alkali  treatment. 

CALMNESS  IN  EMERGENCY 

It  was  growing  warm  in  the  bungalow, 
with  so  many  crowding  around  the  scene  of 
action,  but  no  one  would  have  supposed  it 
would  cause  a  sunstroke.  Kani-da-ka  fell 
down,  however,  very  white  and  exhausted, 
and  they  braced  her  against  a  bench  in  a  sit- 
ting posture  while  they  bathed  her  face  and 
neck  with  cold  water.  When  she  recovered 
they  told  her  that  she  would  have  to  be  careful 
in  the  future  about  exposing  herself  to  the 

169 


direct  rays  of  the  sun,  especially  in  hot 
weather. 

The  heat  had  affected  Ma-na  in  a  different 
way.  She  grew  faint,  and  two  of  the  bystand- 
ers tried  to  carry  her  out.  First  they  made  a 
hand-chair,  but  as  she  became  entirely  uncon- 
scious, and  lost  her  hold  on  their  shoulders, 
they  were  obliged  to  try  some  other  method. 
One  took  her  shoulders,  one  her  feet,  one  sup- 
ported her  back,  and  they  started,  but  just 
then  Helpful  met  them  with  a  stretcher,  hast- 
ily improvised  from  two  oars  and  a  blanket, 
and  this  proved  the  most  comfortable  way 
to  carry  the  helpless  burden. 

Outside  of  the  bungalow  Ma-na  was 
dropped  abruptly,  for  Te-pa  had  broken  her 
leg,  and  everyone  was  needed  to  help  her. 
The  best  they  could  do  was  to  bandage  her  leg 
with  a  stick  to  keep  it  stiff  until  they  could 
reach  a  doctor,  and,  as  Ma-na  was  quite  herself 
again,  they  rolled  her  out  of  the  stretcher  and 
put  Te-pa  in  her  place. 

Ta-o,  who  was  trying  to  help  carry  the 
stretcher,  fell  and  broke  her  arm,  and  they 
put  that  in  a  sling  and  helped  her  to  go  to 
the  doctor  along  with  Te-pa,  who  professed 
herself  glad  of  company.    Helpful  explained 

170 


that  no  one  but  a  physician  should  attempt 
to  set  a  broken  bone,  but  that  if  there  is  no 
physician  near  it  should  be  kept  in  an  ice  pack 
to  prevent  swelling,  which  is  very  dangerous. 
A  snake  bite  followed  close  after  this — 
though  there  was  no  snake  to  be  seen — and 
the  tourniquet  came  into  use  again  to  keep 
the  blood  away  from  the  poisoned  spot.  The 
poison  was  then  sucked  and  squeezed  out, 
which  Helpful  said  was  the  only  real  cure  for 
a  poisonous  snake  bite.  The  whisky  cure  he 
declared  a  myth. 

TROUBLE  AND  YET  MORE 
TROUBLE 

Scarcely  was  this  crisis  past  when  I-ma- 
ga-ga  rushed  in,  quivering  pathetically  with 
terror,  crying  out  that  a  dog  had  bitten  her! 
They  never  found  the  dog!  Two  of  the  girls 
washed  out  the  wound  and  applied  the  tourni- 
quet again,  and  there  was  some  discussion  of 
sending  her  to  a  Pasteur  Institute  for  treat- 
ment until  they  decided  that  the  dog  had 
shown  no  signs  whatever  of  rabies. 

A  black  eye  was  the  next  accident,  but  it 
disappeared  speedily  under  the  treatment  of 
alternate  hot  and  cold  water.    A  rusty  nail 

171 


in  Te-pa's  foot  called  for  prompt  treatment, 
and  they  washed  out  the  rust,  then  bandaged 
it  carefully.  The  ointment  Helpful  recom- 
mended for  such  cases,  as  being  soothing  and 
also  mildly  antiseptic,  was  to  be  made  of  one 
spoonful  of  boracic  acid  to  two  of  vaseline. 

Ek-o-le-la  came  in  suffering  with  a  fearful 
toothache,  which  they  treated  with  an  ice  bag 
and  some  of  the  contents  of  a  milk  can  that 
was  labeled  "Oil  of  Cloves,"  in  large  letters. 
Helpful  said  that  a  hot  water  bag  for  tooth- 
ache is  a  mistake,  as  it  only  increases  the 
fever,  while  ice  reduces  it.  Then,  as  if  the 
toothache  had  not  been  bad  enough,  Da-su, 
one  of  the  Twins,  and  another  girl  fell  into 
a  disgraceful  altercation,  and  each  knocked 
out  one  of  the  other's  teeth.  They  hastily 
picked  them  up  and  put  them  back  to  keep 
the  spaces  open,  hoping  that  the  dentist  could 
bridge  them  into  place! 

Screams  from  without  again!  At  the  foot 
of  the  hill  lay  Ta-ku,  rolled  in  a  blanket  which 
To-he-ha  had  thrown  around  her  to  put  out 
the  flames  that  had  threatened  her  very  life. 
With  great  thoughtfulness  To-he-ha  had 
wrapped  the  blanket  from  the  top  down  and 
had   so   avoided   driving  the  flames   up  into 

173 


Ta-ku's  face.  It  developed  presently  that 
Ta-ku  had  caught  fire  in  trying  to  help  an- 
other girl  who  was  dyeing  over  the  fire,  and 
had  scalded  herself  with  boiling  water  from 
the  big  kettle.    But  Ta-ku  s  injuries  proved 


Wa-han-ka,  dripping  and  limp 

the  worse  of  the  two  and  they  were  obliged 
to  cut  away  the  clothing  carefully  before 
applying  oil. 

"The  Blue  Birds,"  who  had  been  bobbing 
about  all  this  time  in  white-towel  aprons  with 
red-cross  bandages  on  their  arms,  kept  their 
heads  splendidly  when  He-wan-ka,  their  coun- 

174 


cilor,  became  a  tortured  victim  of  ivy  poison. 
They  ran  for  a  basin  of  soap  and  water,  but 
it  was  Ivory  soap  they  brought,  and  even  in 
her  pain  He-wan-ka  pushed  it  away,  scream- 
ing, "No,  no!"    Then  they  brought  plain  yel- 


"The  rescuer  pressed  forward,  slowly  counting  three" 

low  soap,  and  washed  her  arm  thoroughly, 
which  soothed  it.  Helpful  remarked  that 
alkali  is  needed  to  dissolve  the  oil  in  the  poison, 
and  that  the  Ivory  does  not  contain  as  much 
alkali  as  plain  yellow  soap. 

The  climax  of  the  afternoon  came  now, 
with  a  touch   of  reality   that  had  not  been 

175 


arranged  on  the  program.  A  scream  from  the 
lake  called  everyone  out  to  the  rock  before 
the  bungalow.  Far  out  on  the  water  appeared 
an  overturned  canoe,  with  a  girl  struggling 
desperately  near  it.  Without  hesitation 
Ki-lo-des-ka  plunged  from  the  steep  rock  and 
swam  to  the  rescue.  She  reached  the  now  un- 
conscious girl  and  started  to  swim  to  shore, 
holding  her  by  the  clothes  at  the  back  of  her 
neck,  when  a  rowboat  suddenly  appeared  on 
the  scene,  hastening  to  the  rescue  in  dead  earn- 
est from  a  neighboring  boys'  camp.  The 
shouts  of  laughter  from  the  shore  soon  opened 
the  eyes  of  the  brave  councilor  in  the  boat,  and 
he  rowed  back  as  fast  as  he  could.  Hiiteni 
thanked  him  for  his  effort  afterward,  and 
promised  to  send  her  neighbors  word  before 
another  "accident  day"  took  place. 

Meanwhile  Wa-han-ka,  for  Wa-han-ka  it 
again  proved  to  be,  was  brought  to  land  drip- 
ping and  limp,  and  carried  up  to  the  bun- 
galow on  the  little  freight  truck  and  placed  on 
a  blanket  on  the  floor.  They  laid  her  face 
downward,  turned  her  head  to  the  left  side, 
and  set  up  artificial  respiration  by  pressure. 

One  of  the  girls  sat  across  her  hips  and 
placed  both  hands  on  the  small  of  the  unfortu- 

176 


m  SBft^SSfci  u  @  Q  0  ®  ID 

nate  girl's  back  with  thumbs  nearly  touching 
and  the  fingers  spread  out  over  her  lowest 
ribs.  The  rescuer  pressed  forward,  slowly 
counting  three,  then  quickly  swung  herself 
backward,  releasing  the  pressure,  but  keeping 
her  hands  on  the  body  in  the  original  position 
with  the  arms  straight.  In  three  more  counts 
she  repeated  this  movement.  Some  one  hastily 
brought  hot  water  bags  for  artificial  heat, 
while  others  rubbed  Wa-han-ka's  limbs  vigor- 
ously till  at  last  she  breathed,  and  they  knew 
that  her  life  was  saved! 

She  sprang  up,  looking  amazingly  cheer- 
ful and  happy,  and  went  off  to  find  some  dry 
clothes.  The  other  sufferers  also  recovered, 
and  all  adjourned  to  Hiiteni's  fireplace,  where 
supper  was  waiting  to  build  up  their  weak- 
ened vitality.  The  talk  about  the  fire  was 
enlivened  by  discussions  of  how  well  Wa- 
han-ka  had  acted  her  part,  how  difficult  it  had 
been  to  tow  her  to  land,  how  funny  Ca-du-za 
had  been  with  her  black  eye,  and  why  this  or 
that  treatment  was  given  for  each  accident. 

After  this  day  each  Wohelo  maiden  felt 
competent  to  handle  any  case  of  accident  or 
sudden  injury  that  might  come  in  her  path. 

After  supper  Alaska  read  by  the  firelight 
177 


m  mm  00  ®  gssssaraBs  m 

from  a  paper  that  had  come  in  the  morning 
mail  about  the  progress  of  a  great  war  that 
was  beginning  in  far-off  Europe.  In  this  little 
world  of  peace  and  happiness  it  was  difficult 
to  realize  that  anything  so  fearful  and  bar- 
barous could  be  happening,  but  the  fact  that 
the  parents  of  some  of  the  girls  were  travel- 
ling in  Europe,  and  that  many  had  friends 
there,  helped  to  bring  the  reality  home  to 
them.  The  ''Dutchies,"  as  the  twins  from 
Holland  had  come  to  be  affectionately  called, 
were  a  living  bond  of  connection  with  the 
troubled  Old  World  countries. 

There  is  a  Camp  Fire  Girls  organization 
in  Holland,  and  the  girls  of  Sebago-Wohelo 
Camp  were  interested  to  learn  that  the  Camp 
Fire  Girls  in  that  little  country  were  turning 
their  club  rooms  into  hospitals,  and  helping  in 
every  way  they  could  to  heal  the  sufferings  of 
war.  It  seemed  suddenly  a  very  wonderful 
thing  to  be  able  to  help,  even  a  little,  on  the 
side  of  healing  and  peace,  and  the  girls  were 
glad  for  the  lessons  that  helped  to  fit  them  for 
emergencies,  even  though  they  hoped  that  they 
would  never  have  the  same  need  for  these 
lessons  as  had  their  sisters  across  the  sea. 

"The  Dutchies,"  who  were  always  willing 
178 


to  contribute  to  the  happiness  of  camp,  sang 
several  songs  in  their  soft,  sweet  voices,  ac- 
companying them  on  the  guitar  and  mandolin, 
closing  with  a  restful  lullaby  which  the  girls 
had  learned  to  love,  even  though  the  words 
were  in  a  foreign  tongue.  They  seemed  to 
have  a  new  meaning  tonight,  a  promise  of 
the  peace  which  must  surely  come  to  the  un- 
happy peoples  across  the  seas.  The  peace  of 
camp  grew  deeper  and  deeper  for  very  con- 
trast to  the  excitement  of  the  day,  and  the 
stormy  tales  of  war,  till  the  fire  flickered  low 
in  the  hush  of  it,  and  everyone  went  quietly 
to  bed. 


-£jp 


Da-su 


179 


The   cross-bill 

XII 

DOUGLAS  HILL 

rpHE  day  had  come  for  the  last  trip  of  the 
A    summer,  which  was  to  be  straight  across 
the  lake  to  the  sunset  mountains  outlined  so 
invitingly  against  the  sky. 

180 


Very  early  in  the  morning  one  of  the  coun- 
cilors, who  had  risen  before  the  bugle  to  make 
some  preparation  for  the  trip,  happened  to 
pass  Hiitenis  tent  and  found  her,  as  she  often 
was  at  this  hour,  awake  and  busy,  looking  over 
her  mail  and  making  plans  for  the  day.  The 
councilor  slipped  in  for  a  moment's  chat. 

"Oh!"  whispered  Hiiteni  suddenly,  point- 
ing to  a  pine  whose  branches  were  silhouetted 
against  the  sky  bej^ond  her  tent,  "there  are 
the  cross-bills!  There  have  never  been  any 
in  camp  before,  so  far  as  I  know,  but  this 
dear  little  pair  has  been  building  a  nest,  and 
I  have  caught  glimpses  of  them  several  times. 
Oh,  I  believe  I  could  take  a  picture  of  them 
now,  right  from  the  tent!" 

They  rested  the  camera  on  Hiiteni's  bed, 
moving  quickly  but  quietly,  and  though  one 
of  the  bird  visitors  flew  away,  the  other  posed 
for  several  pictures,  pirouetting  daintily  in 
unconscious  grace  on  the  pine  branch.  Hiit- 
eni's eyes  were  full  of  the  hushed  happiness 
that  such  a  little  thing  could  kindle  in  her 
nature-loving  heart,  and  the  light  in  them  did 
not  quite  die  out  during  all  of  the  happy  day 
which  followed.  She  loved  all  of  the  wild 
things  of  the  woods — loved  them  in  their  free- 

181 


m  m  m  n  b  ©  %%%T2$&  m 

dom,  and  rejoiced  in  it,  yet  she  had  "captured" 
the  crossbill  in  a  way  that  was  to  be  a  lasting 
source  of  joy  to  her  and  to  others. 

A  SONG  TO  MARCH  BY 

There  were  others  awake  early,  too,  for 
soon  after  the  bugle  sounded,  from  the  piano 
was  heard  a  strange  but  catchy  little  tune.  It 
was  Helpful,  Embers,  and  Te-ca-ya,  compos- 
ing a  new  song  to  a  negro  melody  they  had 
known  in  college  days,  and  they  sung  it  after 
the  morning  service,  with  the  aid  of  Helpful's 
violin.  In  a  very  short  time  the  girls  had 
learned  it,  and  were  singing  with  laughter  in 
their  voices: 

"Oh  Hiiteni  built  a  shack 
On  Lake  Sebago! 

And  every  summer  she  comes  back — 
A  long  time  ago!" 

Chorus 

"A  long  time  ago !  A  long  time  ago ! 
And  every  summer  she  comes  back — 
A  long  time  ago!" 

"The  Heavenly  Rock  is  big  and  high — 
On  Lake  Sebago! 

182 


Ready  for  a  hike 


mm  mn  m  @  ga^sa?^  m 

If  you  jump  off  you'll  surely  die' 
A  long  time  ago!" 

and  several  other  verses  equally  nonsensical, 
some  of  them  rather  personal  in  their  ref- 
erences. 

They  were  still  humming  it  when  they 
scattered  to  their  tents  to  roll  up  their  blan- 
kets, for  Ce-ki-ca-ti,  who  had  this  trip  in 
charge,  had  ordered  the  ponchos  down  on  the 
dock  before  craft-hour,  so  that  there  might  be 
no  delay  in  starting  immediately  after  dinner. 
To  make  sure  that  the  order  was  carried  out, 
she  had  suggested  that  the  having  their  pon- 
chos promptly  on  the  dock  should  count  in  the 
tent  inspection  record  for  the  week. 

So  there  was  no  time  lost  after  dinner  in 
loading  the  canoes,  which  were  towed  away 
by  the  "Red  Beak"  after  the  same  fashion 
as  on  the  Crooked  River  trip,  except  that  to- 
day the  sun  was  blazing  down  upon  them  in 
a  manner  almost  too  friendly.  The  ever-pres- 
ent craft-work  was  much  in  evidence,  and  in 
several  groups  one  of  the  girls  was  reading 
aloud,  one  from  the  poetry  of  Alfred  Noyes, 
another  from  the  Ladies'  Home  Journal.  In 
one  end  of  the  war-canoe  Alaska  was  enter- 

184 


taining  an  interested  group  with  tales  of  the 
time  when  she  attended  the  Henley  Regatta, 
and  May  Week  at  Oxford. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  lake  a  wagon 
waited  for  the  ponchos,  then  started  up  the 
hill,  leaving  the  girls  to  climb  up  by  a  dif- 
ferent road.  Ce-ki-ca-ti  marshalled  them  in 
squads  of  eight,  and  they  set  out  valiantly, 
singing  as  they  went. 

"Oh,  Hitteni  built  a  shack 
On  Lake  Sebago! 

And  every  summer  she  comes  back — 
A  long  time  ago !" 

The  tune  was  good  for  marching,  and 
helped  in  the  long  climb.  They  wound 
through  the  village  and  slowly  up  the  hill 
road,  passing  comfortable  looking  farm 
houses  and  apple  orchards  where  the  fruit  was 
beginning  to  look  temptingly  ripe.  It  was 
"hard  on  to  five  mile,''  as  the  driver  of  the 
wagon  had  said,  and  when  the  wagon  passed 
them  about  half  way  up,  several,  at  Hiiteni's 
persuasion,  consented  to  a  lift.  But  Ti-ya-ta 
and  Ta-ku  had  even  carried  their  ponchos  all 
the  way,  and  declared  they  were  not  tired  a 

13* 


mm  igb@  assess  m 

bit,  and  that  this  was  really  the  proper  way  to 
"hike." 

About  half  a  mile  below  the  top  of  the  hill 
they  found  their  ponchos  waiting  near  a  hos- 
pitable farmhouse,  where  they  paused  for  a 
rest  and  a  drink  of  water.  Then  they  shoul- 
dered the  ponchos  and  the  baskets  of  food  be- 
sides,   and    started    for  the  last,  stiff  climb. 

SUNSET  ON  THE  MOUNTAIN 

Every  moment  the  scene  became  more  beau- 
tiful! Mountain  after  mountain  came  into 
view,  with  little  chains  of  lakes  hidden  in  the 
hearts  of  them.  It  seemed  impossible  that  so 
short  a  journey  from  the  quiet  camp  by  the 
lakeside  could  have  transported  them  into  real 
mountain  country,  which  now,  as  the  sun- 
set began  to  color  it  with  rich  purple  shadows 
and  glowing  lights,  changed  before  their  very 
eyes  into  "the  glory  and  the  freshness  of  a 
dream." 

At  the  foot  of  the  last  climb,  as  if  it  were 
for  the  keeper  of  the  mountain,  nestled  a 
pleasant  home,  and  the  girls  stopped  to  fill 
their  pails  with  water  and  exchange  a  few 
words  with  the  daughter  of  the  house,  a  col- 
lege girl  whom  some  had  met  in  other  sum- 

186 


m  Esa^a^ass  ii^q^o 


'Pushed  upward  as  fast  as  the  blue-berries  would  allow' 


mers.  Then  they  pushed  on  to  the  top  as  fast 
as  the  blueberry  bushes  would  allow.  The  ber- 
ries were  as  large  as  strawberries,  if  the  tales 
the  girls  brought  back  were  to  be  believed. 
Small  wonder  that  some  of  the  hungry  travel- 
lers laid  down  their  burdens  to  feast  upon  this 
rich  luxury,  making  this  an  excuse  for  a  mo- 
ment's rest,  but  others  more  valiant  refused  to 
stop,  and  climbed  on  up  over  the  scraggy, 

187 


rocky  hillside,  only  snatching  a  berry  or  two 
as  they  went — perhaps  they  were  not  so  fond 
of  blueberries! 

At  the  top  all  dropped  their  ponchos  and 
looked  around  them,  the  full  beauty  of  the 
mountain  sunset  shining  straight  into  their 
dazzled  eyes.  The  peaks  and  ridges  glowed 
with  rose,  gold,  and  unknown  tints,  and 
through  a  rift  in  the  clouds  a  shower  of  long, 
glimmering  rays  fell  aslant  into  a  valley  be- 
tween the  hills.  Those  who  knew  could  pick 
out  individual  peaks,  Old  Man,  Kearsarge  and 
Mount  Washington,  clearly  outlined,  yet 
transfigured  by  the  veil  of  beaut y  that  swept 
over  them. 

STAKING  CAMP 

But  after  the  first  hush  of  wonder  the 
hungry  girls  remembered  the  solid,  rocky 
earth  beneath  their  feet,  and,  while  keeping 
one  eye  on  the  sunset,  guided  themselves  with 
the  other  to  the  richest  blueberry  patches.  The 
berries  disappeared  like  so  much  dew,  leaving 
always  plenty  more  to  be  had  for  the  gather- 
ing. Wa-zi  demanded  to  have  her  bed  made 
in  a  clump  of  bushes,  so  that  she  could  wake 
and   eat  berries    by    moonlight,    but    others, 

188 


0  110  q  m  sb^^sss  m 

moved  by  more  aesthetic  motives,  chose  spots 
from  which  they  could  watch  the  sunrise  in 
the  morning. 

The  top  of  Douglas  Hill  was  marked  by 
a  rough  monument  of  stones,  and  near  it 
stood  a  fireplace  of  the  same  gray  rock,  walled 
about  on  three  sides  like  a  stove,  with  an  open- 
ing in  the  fourth  side.  Here  a  fire  was  built, 
and  cans  of  beans  set  in  the  opening  to  heat. 
Toasted  bread,  milk,  and  jam,  with  some 
maple  fudge,  which  the  cook  had  sent  as  a 
surprise,  made  a  feast  to  satisfy  the  hungriest. 

After  supper  a  big  fire  was  built  in  the 
open  to  signal  to  To-mo-ke,  who  had  remained 
in  camp,  and  they  all  sat  down  around  it  and 
mere  merry.  "The  Dutchies"  sang  their  na- 
tional anthem,  and  a  tune  or  two  besides,  and 
then  everyone  joined  in  the  new  camp  song 
about  Hiiteni's  shack,  making  new  verses  to 
sing  when  the  original  ones  ran  out.  Stunts 
of  the  usual  kind  followed,  and  then  came  a 
charming  Hawaiian  story  by  Ya-ke-ya,  who, 
though  a  new  arrival  at  camp,  had  found  her 
place  at  once  upon  the  roll  of  entertainers. 

Stumbling  down  among  the  rocks  in  the 
dark,  or  finding  their  way  more  comfortably 
by  the  help  of  their  pocket  flashes,  the  girls 

190 


were  soon  snuggled  under  their  ponchos, 
which  were  already  damp  with  the  heavy  dew. 
The  moon  came  up,  and  the  night  was  perfect, 
clear  and  still  and  bright.  No  one  wanted  to 
sleep,  and  Hiiteni's  "Hush!"  came  several 
times  before  the  whispering  was  stilled. 

"WAKE  YE,  ARISE! 
LIFE  IS  CALLING  THEE!" 

rang  over  the  hillside.  It  was  early  in  the 
morning,  and  the  sleepy  maidens  woke  to  watch 
the  sunrise,  some  from  their  beds,  others 
from  a  jutting  rock  that  commanded  a  sweep- 
ing view  of  the  eastern  sky.  They  looked  for 
the  familiar  waters  of  the  lake,  but  only  the 
peaks  of  the  mountains  were  to  be  seen,  ris- 
ing above  a  sea  of  mist  that  rolled  in  billowy 
whiteness  all  around.  Slowly  the  sun  rose 
through  the  mist,  a  clear,  flaming  ball,  touch- 
ing the  mountain  tops  with  gold,  and  lighting 
every  misty  wave  crest. 

As  the  novelty  of  the  scene  wore  away  the 
girls  thought  of  the  long  hours  between  sun- 
rise and  breakfast,  and  some  crept  back  for 
another  nap.  The  rest  went  up  and  down  the 
hillside  gathering  berries,  talking  softly,  as 
they  had  promised  Hiiteni,  for  fear  of  dis- 

191 


m  m  m  n  b  m  gBEsa^gs  eq 

turbing  the  sleepers.  They  returned  at  break- 
fast time  with  purple  lips,  and  quarts  and 
quarts  of  berries  to  carry  home. 

Dis-ya-di  had  been  busy  making  up  a 
"Douglas  Hill  Song"  to  the  tune  of  "Ta-ra-ra- 
ra-boom-de-ay,"  and  the  girls  sang  it  as  they 
marched  down  the  hill  soon  after  breakfast 
with  their  ponchos  in  neat  array  over  their 
shoulders : 

"From  Douglas  Hill  we  maidens  come, 
Laughing,  singing,  on  the  run! 
My,  but  we've  been  having  fun, 
Eating  berries  by  the  ton!" 

But  as  they  neared  the  house  at  the  foot  of 
the  hill  they  stopped  singing,  and  crept  down 
softly,  to  surprise  their  friends  with  a  morn- 
ing cheer. 

Then  began  the  long  jaunt  down  the  hill, 
which  was  curiously  easier  than  the  upward 
climb,  and  made  easier  still  by  some  apples 
that  insisted  upon  falling  from  a  tree  hanging 
over  the  road.  Before  they  realized  they  had 
reached  the  good,  old  lake  again,  and  were 
taking  their  places  in  the  canoes,  surprised  to 
find  how  much  rougher  the  water  had  grown 
during  the  night.    Twice  a  canoe  broke  loose 

192 


m  ssftH^sss  iios§e] 


Working  in  clay 


from  the  line.  "It  would  not  be  the  Douglas 
Hill  trip,"  Ce-ki-ca-ti  said,  "if  the  canoes  did 
not  break  loose," — but  they  were  safely  tied 
again,  and  as  good  sailors  should,  they  enjoyed 
the  trip  more  for  the  dancing  of  the  craft  on 
the  water,  though  one  or  two  arrived  at  the 
dock  a  little  pale. 

That  afternoon  and  parts  of  the  next  day 
were  spent  with  "a  fire  in  the  canner,"  putting 
up  the  fifty  quarts  of  berries  which  had  been 
brought  home  from  the  trip.    They  were  not 

193 


mmm  nm  m  is^^sas  0 


the  first  blueberries  of  the  season,  for  twice 
Ki-lo-des-ka  had  marshalled  "The  King- 
fishers" out  before  breakfast  to  gather  berries 
for  canning.  But  the  Douglas  Hill  berries 
seemed  to  have  a  flavor  all  their  own,  mingled 
of  mountain  sunrise  and  the  vigorous  delight 
of  the  climb. 

The  evening  was  rainy,  but  no  one  cared. 
They  sat  in  the  teepee  around  a  cheerful  fire, 
toasting  marshmallows,  as  cosily  as  could  be, 
while  Alaska  read  aloud;  and  they  wondered 
how  it  could  be  that  tramping  up  the  hill  in 
the  sunshine  is  so  wonderful,  yet  coming 
home  again  to  one's  own  little  teepee  in  the 
rain  is  so  very  sweet. 


l|^ 

SF 


Ki-lo-des-ka 


194 


XIII 

MARKETING  DAY 

rilHE  Tuesday  night  suppers  of  the  tents 
-*■  had  been  gradually  expanding  from  the 
simple  "bacon-bat"  affairs  of  early  summer  to 
feasts  of  considerable  style  and  variety.  The 
girls  of  "Niebelungen"  had  made  a  bean-hole 
early  one  Tuesday  morning,  and  produced  for 
supper  a  generous  supply  of  well-baked  beans. 
The  Count  for  the  next  week  said: 

"As  we  were  not  bidden  thither 
To  that  feast  of  Niebelungen's 
We  can  only  hint  and  surmise 
That  their  beans  were  either  burned  or, 
Mayhap,  underdone  a  trifle." 

But  that  is  too  obviously  the  utterance  of 
a  jealous  mind  to  call  for  argument.  The 
beans  were  perfectly  cooked,  and  had  a  rare, 
delicious  flavor. 

Now  a  still  greater  spark  of  ambition  had 
fired  the  breast  of  one  of  "The  Loons,"  who 

195 


®  m  m  n  h  ®  gg^^agss  m 

came  to  Hiiteni  with  a  modest  request  for  per- 
mission to  buy  and  cook  a  chicken.  She  want- 
ed to  earn  the  home-craft  honor,  "pick,  dress, 
and  cook  a  fowl."  Hiiteni  saw  in  her  sug- 
gestion a  happy  answer  to  another  problem 
that  had  been  troubling  some  of  the  girls  who 
wanted  to  become  Fire  Makers,  but  had  not 
had  opportunity  to  meet  the  requirement:  "To 
help  prepare  and  serve,  together  with  other 
candidates,  at  least  two  meals  for  meetings  of 
the  Camp  Fire;  this  to  include  purchase  of 
food,  cooking,  and  serving  the  meal,  and  care 
of  fire."  "Perhaps,"  thought  Hiiteni,  "all  of 
the  girls  would  like  to  choose  their  own  ma- 
terials for  one  Tuesday  night  supper,  and 
buy  them  from  the  village  store  or  the  farmers 
in  the  neighborhood." 

A  NEW  AND  DELIGHTFUL  WAY 
TO  EARN  HONORS 

The  "perhaps"  was  still  strong  in  Hiiteni' s 
mind  when  she  brought  the  subject  before 
the  girls  after  Service  that  morning.  She  did 
not  wish  to  compel  anyone  to  make  this  ex- 
periment, she  said,  but  she  thought  that,  be- 
sides solving  the  problem  of  the  honor,  it  would 
be  a  valuable  experience.    She  told  how,  when 

196 


m  S^ftM^  IiG0[5]El 

her  own  daughters  were  young,  she  had  dis- 
missed the  servant,  and  given  the  kitchen  into 
the  keeping  of  the  girls,  letting  them  buy  and 
cook  the  meals  in  turn,  and  so  learn  by  first- 
hand the  knowledge  of  cost  and  preparation 
of  food.  And  she  added  that  cooking  out-of- 
doors  is  the  natural,  biological  way  for  a  girl 
to  learn  to  love  home-making,  just  as  playing 
at  Indian  battles  is  the  boy's  way  of  learning 
strength  and  manly  qualities. 

Hiiteni  intended  to  put  the  question  to  a 
vote,  but  she  had  scarcely  finished  speaking 
when  the  girls  began  to  discuss  their  menus 
as  if  it  were  already  decided. 

"How  shall  we  get  small  enough  quantities 
of  flour?"  a  practical  maid  demanded. 

"You  might  club  together  in  buying  things 
like  that,"  was  Hiiteni's  suggestion. 

"Oh,"  cried  Ta-ku,  bobbing  up  and  down 
with  excitement,  "  'The  Loons'  will  buy  flour, 
and  sell  it  to  anyone  who  wants  it!" 

"'The  Kingfishers'  will  sell  salt!"  put  in 
Ti-ya-ta. 

"Get  your  baking  powder  from  'Niebe- 
lungen/  " 

"And  when  can  we  go  to  the  village  to  buy 
things?" 

197 


@  u  m  E2  m  ©  ggtfs&sgs  m 

It  was  finally  arranged  that  each  tent 
should  send  two  delegates  to  the  village  dur- 
ing rest  hour,  and  the  Service  broke  up  in  a 
buzz  of  planning. 

Little  else  was  talked  of  that  day.  The 
telephone  came  into  use  for  ordering  the  ar- 
ticles that  could  not  wait  until  afternoon,  prin- 
cipally two  chickens,  one  for  "The  Loons" 
and  one  for  "The  Heavenly  Twins,"  who  were 
not  to  be  outdone  by  anyone.  "Heavenly  Rest" 
announced  that  ice-cream  would  be  for  sale 
to  all  who  wished  to  buy. 

The  storekeeper  of  South  Casco  must  have 
been  taken  by  surprise  when  the  horde  of  eager 
housewives  descended  upon  him  in  the  after- 
noon. There  was  Ta-ku,  bustling  about  buy- 
ing corn  for  everyone  who  wanted  it,  and, 
finding  that  she  had  counted  a  dozen  ears  too 
few,  had  to  order  more.  There  were  the 
"Dutch  sisters"  buying  rice,  and  currants  and 
brown  sugar  for  a  native  dish  they  were  plan- 
ning to  serve  at  "Top  o'  the  Rocks."  Pi-ki-da 
and  I-wa-da-ka  had  their  heads  together  as 
usual,  and  were  buying  provisions  for  break- 
fast, for  "The  Spiders"  had  permission  for  a 
little  camping  trip  of  their  own  to  a  nearby 
island. 

198 


11 

-O 

k 

13 

i< 

«9 

<*o 

8 

^ 

k 

0 

§ 

^ 

«o 

^ 

k 

05 

*> 

a 

i»o 

05 

m  m  m  n  0  ©  3s$r&»  0 


They  all  met  at  the  "Red  Beak,"  those  who 
had  been  in  the  store  and  those  who  had  been 
visiting  the  houses  along  the  road,  arms  full 
of  many-shaped  packages,  and  eyes  bright 
with  excitement.  On  the  way  home  they 
busied  themselves  counting  up  how  much  they 
had  paid  for  their  provisions,  and  making  more 
plans  for  the  evening's  feast. 

THE  WONDERFUL  CHICKEN 

Of  the  hum  of  activity  that  filled  the  camp 
that  afternoon,  "The  Heavenlies"  seemed  to  be 
the  very  center.  The  air  about  the  three  tents 
fairly  quivered  with  activity  that  hinted  of 
delicious  viands  preparing.  Early  in  the  day 
the  girls  of  "The  Heavenly  Twins"  had  dug  a 
hole  near  the  tent,  walled  it  around  with 
stones,  built  a  fire  in  it,  and  laid  in  the  ashes 
a  neatly  stuffed  chicken  wrapped  in  oiled 
paper,  which  was  then  covered  over  with  earth 
and  stones  and  left  to  cook.  They  spoke  of 
"when  we  take  the  chicken  out,"  very  much 
as  they  might  have  spoken  of  "When  the  night- 
blooming  cereus  blossoms,"  with  the  tones 
of  those  who  are  waiting  breathless  for  a  brief 
but  weighty  crisis.  They  made  a  little  fire, 
with  two  forked  sticks  to  hold  a  spit  on  which 

200 


they  could  brown  the  chicken  to  a  turn  when 
they  had  taken  it  out.  Then  they  left  Ce-ki- 
ca-ti  and  To-ka  to  watch  by  the  hole  while 
the  rest  went  about  the  other  cooking  on  the 
fireplace  beyond  the  tent. 

In  the  intervals  between  entertaining  the 
interested  visitors  who  came  now  and  then  to 
inquire  about  the  chicken,  Ce-ki-ca-ta  and 
To-ka  busied  themselves  making  some  rich 
chocolate  sauce.  Helpful  the  Great,  who  had 
been  invited  to  supper,  came  near  with  a 
hungry  and  almost  wTistful  expression,  won- 
dering, no  doubt,  whether  the  chicken  would 
yield  up  a  meal  for  a  man's  appetite.  A  visit- 
ing guardian,  who  was  also  to  be  a  guest  at 
the  feast,  hovered  about  in  a  hungry  search 
for  new  ideas.  She  drifted  over  to  "Heavenly 
Rest"  to  watch  with  admiration  the  dexterous 
maidens  there,  who  were  baking  biscuit  over 
their  fire  by  rolling  the  dough  around  a  long 
stick,  which  was  then  poised  on  two  forked 
sticks  and  turned  until  the  biscuit  were  baked. 
As  the  girls  were  cooking  soup  and  agonizing 
over  the  ice-cream  that  would  not  freeze  at  the 
same  time,  the  visitor  was  allowed,  as  a  special 
privilege,  to  amuse  herself  with  a  few  turns  at 
the  biscuit. 

201 


m  m  si  n  h  e  gg^^ssas  m 

"Thank  you  so  much  for  letting  me  see 
just  how  it  is  done,"  she  said,  and  hurried  back 
to  "The  Twins' "  fireplace  at  a  rumor  that  the 
chicken  was  about  to  be  taken  out.  Hiiteni 
was  hastily  summoned,  and  in  the  presence  of 
a  little  group  of  favored  witnesses  the  hole 
was  opened.  The  chicken  lay  there,  slightly 
blackened  by  the  ashes,  for  the  paper  was 
quite  burned  off,  but  with  a  cooked  appear- 
ance gratifying  to  behold.  They  poked  it.  It 
was  tender.  It  was  even  slightly  browned, 
but  they  finished  it  to  the  last  touch  of  per- 
fection, as  they  had  planned,  on  the  spit  over 
the  fire. 

Meanwhile  the  other  viands,  in  their  own 
humble  way,  were  turning  out  as  well  as  the 
chicken.  Te-pa  had  taken  charge  of  the  sweet 
potatoes,  which  had  been  allowed  to  cool,  and 
were  then  peeled  and  fried  with  a  sprinkling 
of  sugar.  "Because  if  you  don't  cool  them 
first,"  she  explained,  with  an  air  of  long  ex- 
perience, "the  grease  will  soak  in  and  spoil 
them."  Te-ca-ya  had  fried  the  tomatoes  most 
deliciously  in  plenty  of  butter,  and  the  apples 
had  been  left  to  bake  in  the  natural  reflect- 
ing oven  under  the  rock  behind  the  fire,  and 
all  were  "done  to  perfection." 
202 


m  esb^mbs  m  m  nm  m  m 

"The  Heavenly  Twins''  sat  down  at  last 
and  waited  for  Helpful  the  Great  to  carve  the 
fowl.  "The  tenderest  I  ever  saw,"  quoth  he. 
"The  best  I  ever  ate,"  was  the  visiting  guar- 
dian's verdict.  And,  indeed,  the  chicken  had  a 
taste  that  differed  from  chicken  cooked  in  the 
usual  prosaic  way,  as  corn  roasted  over  an 
open  fire  differs  from  corn  boiled  on  the 
kitchen  stove.  The  eating  of  this  feast  was 
such  a  simple,  unadulterated  joy  that  no  one 
felt  the  need  of  words  to  accompany  it. 

"PRIDE  GOETH  BEFORE  A  FALL  " 

They  had  gnawed  every  bone  of  the 
chicken,  and  were  waiting  for  the  apple  sauce, 
which  had  to  finish  cooking  on  top  of  the  fire, 
when  one  of  the  girls  from  "Heavenly  Rest" 
announced  that  at  last  the  ice-cream  was  fin- 
ished, and  for  sale.  They  hurried  to  the  tent 
with  cups  and  spoons,  bought  cream,  and  cov- 
ered it  thickly  with  the  rich  chocolate  sauce. 
They  tasted  it  greedily.  Then  they  puckered 
up  their  faces.  It  tasted  of  salt  instead  of 
sugar!  The  chocolate  sauce  was  the  one  blot 
upon  that  otherwise  perfect  meal! 

To  humiliate  their  pride  a  trifle  further  at 
this  point  "The  Niebelungens"  announced  that 

203 


Sweet  potatoes  and  apple  sauce 


they  had  chocolate  sauce  for  sale  at  three  cents 
a  helping.  A  few  of  "The  Heavenlies"  hum- 
bled themselves  and  bought  it,  but  others  ate 
their  cream  with  apple  sauce,  which  by  this 
time  was  ready  to  serve.  Purchasers  from 
other  tents  were  now  flocking  up  to  "Heav- 
enly Rest"  and  going  away  with  five-cent 
helpings  of  the  cream,  either  in  their  cups 
or  in  the  neat  little  boxes  the  girls  had  bought 
for  the  purpose. 

EVERY  TEXT  A  FEAST 

The  visiting  guardian  felt  that  she  must 
have  fallen  upon  the  chief  feasting  place  of 
camp,  and  that  there  could  be  nothing  any- 
where else  to  equal  it.  But  she  took  a  stroll 
about  camp,  to  find  that  each  tent  was  fully 
convinced  that  no  supper  had  been  half  so 
good  as  its  own.  "Niebelungen"  had  stuffed 
tomatoes  on  toast,  mashed  potatoes,  fried 
apples,  and  scones  made  by  Alaska's  own 
recipe,  which  was  soon  in  demand.  She  gave 
it  thus: 

One-half  pound  flour,  one  teaspoon  baking 
powder,  one-half  teaspoon  salt.  Mix  with  milk 
or  water  till  moderately  stiff,  fry  in  boiling  fat, 
when  brown  underneath,  turn. 

205 


"The  Kingfishers"  exhibited  an  empty  tin 
that  bore  silent  witness  to  the  charms  of  an 
apple  pie  which  they  had  baked  in  their  own 
oven.  They  had  rolled  the  crust  on  a  paper 
on  their  table,  with  a  glass  jar  for  a  rolling 
pin.  Besides  this  they  had  baked  apples  over 
the  fire,  turning  them  on  a  stick  and  dropping 
a  marshmallow  in  the  little  hollow  made  in  the 
top  of  each  when  it  was  done.  They  gave 
dazzling  promises  of  blueberry  biscuits  which 
were  soon  to  be  baked,  but  their  visitor  fled 
from  the  temptation  of  further  eating. 

"The  Whippies"  had  tomato  soup,  welsh 
rarebit,  and  fudge.  "The  Loons"  had  fried 
their  chicken  and  made  dumplings  to  eat  with 
it,  besides  having  roast  corn,  and  blueberry 
fritters  for  dessert.  "Top  o'  the  Rocks"  had 
"cheese  dreams,"  which  are  toasted  cheese 
sandwiches,  and  rice  cooked  with  currants 
and  eaten  with  brown  sugar.  Nothing  ex- 
cept the  chocolate  sauce  seemed  to  have  given 
a  hint  of  failure,  and  all  of  the  cooks  looked 
proud  and  happy.  Hands,  faces,  and  middies 
were  a  bit  blackened  by  the  smoke  of  the  fire, 
but  that  was  a  usual  accompaniment  of  Tues- 
day night  suppers,  and  gave  one  a  reckless 
feeling  that  rather  added  to  the  zest  of  things. 

206 


While  they  enjoyed  it  all,  the  camp  spirit 
was  busy  weaving  the  experiences  of  the  day 
into  their  future,  farther  than  they  knew. 
"They  will  never  forget  this,"  said  Hiiteni, 
"and  the  woman's  work  of  choosing  and  pre- 
paring meals  for  the  home  will  have  ever  a 
new  romance  for  them  because  of  it." 

EXPENSE  ACCOUNTS 

Hiiteni  asked  each  of  the  tents  the  next 
morning  to  give  her  an  account  of  their  ex- 
penses for  the  supper,  and  several  of  them 
are  given  here  for  the  perusal  of  any  who  may 
be  interested  in  camp  cookery.  Anyone  who 
is  not  must  be  a  sad  dyspeptic  or  must  never 
have  known  what  real  camp  cooking  is.  Ask 
the  Wohelo  maidens  if  this  is  not  true;  or, 
rather,  ask  their  guests,  for  the  opinions  of 
the  girls  themselves  might  be  tinged  with  the 
rosy  hues  of  the  happiness  they  felt  in  cook- 
ing. 

In  the  keeping  of  these  accurate  accounts 
the  girls  learned  another  valuable  Camp  Fire 
lesson — that  the  housewife  must  keep  books, 
and  "know  just  how  she  stands,"  if  she  is  to  be 
as  efficient  in  her  profession  as  is  her  sister  who 
enters  the  business  world. 

207 


^iigggi  sa^sas  ID 


"HEAVENLY 

REST" 

Cost  of  supper 

Soup,  2  cans, 
Butter,  y2  lb., 
Apples,  2  doz., 

$0.20 
.16 
.10 

Corn,  8  ears, 

Eggs,  1, 

Flour, 

Salt, 

Baking  powder, 

.16 
.03 
.07 
.01 
.04 

Total, 

$0.77 

Cost  of  ice-cream 

Milk,  6  qts.,  $0.36 

Ice,  «25 

Salt,  -10 

Sugar,  -26 

Milk,  2  cans,  .20 

Ice-cream  boxes,  .10 

Eggs,  6,  .18 

Vanilla,  ^05 

Total,  $1.50 

Cost  of  supper,  $0.77 

Cost  of  ice-cream,  1.50 


Supper  &  ice-cream,  $2.27 


Proceeds  (ice-cream)  $3.72 
Total  expense,  2.27 


Net  profit, 


$1.15 


"NIEBELUNGEN" 

Cost  of  supper  and  mate- 
rials for  sale 

Milk,   1   qt.,  $0.06 

Bacon,  y2  lb.,  .15 

Butter,   l/o   lb.,  .18 

Potatoes,  2  qts.,  .08 

Tomatoes,  2  qts.,  .12 

Lard,  %  lb.,  .08 
Baking  powder,  1  can,    .25 

Flour,  1  lb.,  .05 

Sugar,  1  lb.,  .08 

Bread,  1  loaf,  .10 

Apples,  .10 

Eggs,  2,  .06 

Salt,  .01 

Ice-cream,  .20 


Total, 


$1.52 


Proceeds  from  baking 
powder,  $0.17 

Proceeds  from  choco- 
late sauce,  .51 


Total  receipts,         $0.68 


Total  expense, 
Total   receipts, 


Cost  of  supper, 
Cost  per  person. 


$1.52 
.68 

$0.84 
.21 


208 


m  g^fflas  iios^i 


"THE  BLUE  BIRDS" 
Cost  of  supper  for  six 
Spaghetti,  2  cans,  $0.30 
Butter,  1  lb.,  .36 

Bread,  1  loaf,  .10 

Apples,  1  doz.,  .05 

Corn,  y2  doz.  ears,     .15 
Salt,  .01 

Sugar,  y2  lb.,  .04 

Saltines,  1  box,  .10 

Total,  $1.11 

Cost  per  person,         .18% 

"THE  LOONS" 

Cost  of  Supper  for  four 
Chicken,  3  lbs.,  $0.66 


Flour,  7  lbs.,  .35 

Eggs,    1,  .03 

Baking  powder,  .06 

Salt,  .01 

Lard,  %  lb.,  .08 

Milk,  1  qt.,  .06 

Bread,  1  loaf,  .10 

Butter,  y2  lb.,  .15 

Corn,  1  doz.  ears,  .15 

Pickles,  .10 


Total,  $1.78 

Flour  credited,  .23 


Expense  of  supper,    $1.55 
Cost  per  person,  .39 


rrrQ™ 


Pi-ki-da 


209 


XIV 

MERMAIDS  ON  PARADE 

/^vFTEN  as  the  girls  had  sung  of  "The 
V-**  Lorelei,"  the  witching  creature  who  sits 
combing  her  locks  with  a  golden  comb,  and  by 
her  voice  luring  sailors  to  destruction  on  the 
rocks  at  her  feet,  they  had  never  expected  to 
meet  her  on  their  journeys  to  and  fro  over 
Lake  Sebago.  But  that,  it  appears,  was  only 
because  they  had  never  until  this  Wednesday 
happened  to  approach  her  haunts. 

AX  ENCHANTED  ISLAND 

They  had  started  in  the  canoes  for  Wohelo 
Island,  as  they  supposed,  for  the  usual  Wed- 
nesday night  supper.  But  the  "Red  Beak" 
was  towing  them,  and  in  the  "Red  Beak"  sat 
Helpful,  who  was  the  head  of  that  night's 
supper  committee.  Just  before  they  reached 
Wohelo  Island  he  gave  an  unexpected  turn 
to  the  wheel  and  passed  close  to  Ship  Island, 
a  little  heap  of  white  rocks,  with  a  bare  tree 
trunk  standing  straight  in  the  middle  like  a 

210 


®  tSBft?&°&fc§  U  0  G  0  ©  o 

mast,  a  ghostly  place  which  offered  little 
temptation  to  human  feet  to  land  upon.  But 
as  they  came  near  they  spied,  on  the  farthest 
rocky  point  of  it,  a  figure  in  flowing  sea-blue 
garments,  who  combed  her  long  locks  with  a 
golden  comb,  and  sang  alluring  melodies, 
though  the  "Red  Beak"  chugged  so  loudly 
they  could  scarcely  hear  her  voice.  As  they 
circled  the  island,  a  group  of  fairies  appeared, 
in  snow-white  robes  with  silver  crowns  on 
their  soft  hair,  peeping  out  behind  the  rocks 
or  stepping  from  stone  to  stone  with  bare, 
white  feet,  while  in  the  heart  of  the  island, 
close  to  the  big  tree,  sat  a  grim  old  witch  in 
a  long  black  gown,  with  a  peaked  hat,  mutter- 
ing to  herself  and  grinning  weirdly. 

Then  the  "Red  Beak"  stopped,  and  in  a 
moment  the  girls  were  landing  on  the  en- 
chanted island,  where  the  fairies  gathered 
around  and  served  them  sandwiches  and  milk 
from  their  own  ethereal  hands. 

"The  Lorelei"  and  the  witch  ate  with  them 
as  if  they  had  known  them  always.  And  all 
this  wonder  and  enchantment  because  they 
had  come  to  a  spot  which  all  summer  they  had 
ignored!  The  fairies  seemed  to  have  worked 
some  magic,  for  now  that  the  girls  had  act- 

211 


The  "form"  He-ta-ya  acquired  during  the  summer 


m  ss^a^^tg  m  m  n  0  ®  in 

ually  landed,  they  found  it  not  at  all  diffcult 
to  pick  their  way  across  the  rocks,  and  in  the 
middle  of  the  island  was  a  hollow  of  solid  land 
large  enough  to  hold  them  all  in  perfect  com- 
fort. 

Here  they  settled  down  around  a  cheerful 
fire  for  an  evening  of  stunts  and  music. 
Te-ca-ya  sang  some  gay  little  airs  with  her 
guitar,  Ya-ke-ya  told  another  story,  and 
everyone  who  had  not  done  a  stunt  during 
the  whole  summer  was  made  to  do  something, 
be  it  ever  so  simple.  Bye-and-bye,  as  the 
shadows  grew  deeper,  the  black  witch  crept 
out  on  a  rock  that  rose  higher  than  the  rest, 
and  began  to  chant  of  weird  visions,  while  a 
low,  moaning  sound  could  be  heard  echoing 
her  words  from  the  darkness  behind  her.  The 
words  she  said  were  strange,  yet  the  names  she 
used  were  familiar,  and  gradually  it  came  to 
the  minds  of  her  listeners  that  she  was  fore- 
casting the  future  of  those  who  sat  in  the 
circle  before  her.  They  listened  tensely,  that 
not  a  word  might  be  lost. 

The  mere  thought  of  the  future  brought 
feelings  that  for  the  past  few  days  they  had 
been  trying  to  keep  from  their  minds,  and 
though  they  laughed  a  great  deal  over  the 

213 


b  m  m  n  0  ei  3s»£ggs2  n 


prophecies,  which  were  funny  as  might  be, 
there  was  under  the  laughter  a  little  wistful 
sadness,  a  drawing  closer  together  as  if  some 
subtle  consciousness  told  them  all  that  the 
end  of  the  summer's  happiness  was  very  near. 
At  the  evening's  close  Helpful  interpreted  all 
of  this  into  tender  melodies  on  his  violin,  which 
echoed  long  after  in  the  hearts  of  the 
listeners.  For  this  was  to  be  the  last  gather- 
ing of  the  camp  around  a  fire  in  the  open, 
the  quiet  lull  before  the  busy  last  two  weeks, 
which  were  to  be  lived  more  or  less  in  the  eye 
of  the  public  around  Lake  Sebago. 

WATER  SPORTS 

That  very  Saturday  the  war-canoe,  with  a 
picked  crew,  went  to  the  village  to  perform 
its  prettiest  manoeuvers  and  show  the  girls' 
kindly  feeling  for  the  village  that  had  been  so 
much  a  part  of  this  summer.  The  people  had 
gathered  for  an  important  base-ball  game, 
and,  the  girls'  share  in  the  day's  entertainment 
completed,  they  watched  the  game  in  de- 
lighted interest  and  with  generous  applause. 

The  next  Monday  afternoon  all  were  in- 
vited to  the  neighboring  boys'  camp  to  see 
their  water  sports,  and  on  Tuesday  the  boys 

214 


returned  the  compliment  by  attending  water 
sports  day  at  Sebago-Wohelo. 

The  day  was  perfect,  a  trifle  cool  in  the 
morning,  but  warm  enough  by  ten  o'clock, 
when  the  sports  began.  The  lake  was  dotted 
around  the  dock  with  launches  and  boats  from 
neighboring  camps  and  cottages,  and  the  shore 
was  lined  with  people,  tiptoeing  on  the  rocks 
or  clinging  to  the  trees  in  their  effort  to  see 
every  event.  They  held  neat  brown  pro- 
grams, mimeographed  on  the  machine  that 
did  service  for  the  copying  of  the  Counts. 

PROGRAM  FOR  WATER  SPORTS 
DAY 

I     War  Canoe  Manoeuvers. 
II     Undress  in  Deep  Water. 
Ill     Demonstration     of      Tipping     Over, 
Righting  and    Emptying    Canoe — 
Ki-lo-des-ka  and  Helpful  the  Little. 
IV     Interrupted  Canoe  Race. 

V     Under  Water  Swim. 
VI     Follow  the  Leader. 
VII     Fearless  Four. 
VIII     Individual  Tent  Stunts: 

(a  )  "The  Loons" Playing   Games. 

(b)  "Heavenly      Rest"  — Fry e 

Takes  a  Desperate  Chance. 

215 


m  u  m  n  b  @  ssmssss  m 

(c )  "The  Kingfishers"  Disappear. 

(d)  "The    Dutchies"    in    a    Folk 

Dance, 
(e  )  "Niebelungen" — Wheelbarrow 
Race. 

(f)  "Fawassa"    and    "Top    o'    the 

Rocks"     Run    a     Modern 
Laundry. 

(g)  "The      Spiders"  —  Parachute 

Number, 
(h)  "The  Blue  Birds"— Life  Sav- 
ing   Practice, 
(i)  "Heavenly    II"  —  Casting 
Away  of  Mrs.  Leeks  and 
Mrs.  Alshine. 
(j)  "Heavenly     I"— A    Garden 

Party, 
(k)  A  Burlesque. 
(1 )  "The      Chipmunks"  —  Pillow 

Case  Race, 
(m)  "The-whip-por-wills"  —  Um- 
brella Race. 
IX     Tilting. 
X     Diving. 
XI     Final  Plunge. 


216 


h  gs^°GH.ERfc§  iiS0§ni 


Ki-lo-des-ka  in  her  birch  bark  canoe 


CANOE  AND  SWIMMING  PROWESS 

The  War-canoe  manoeuvers  came  first. 
There  were  two  crews,  first  the  paddlers  from 
Helpful' s  training,  then  the  best  from  To-mo- 
ke's,  and  it  was  surprising  to  see  the  progress 
both  had  made  since  the  beginning  of  the  reg- 
ular morning  drills.  They  paddled  to  and  fro 
in  the  cove,  changing  at  a  moment's  notice  to 
"water  wheel,"  "calisthenics,"  and  all  other 
strokes  which  they  knew.  At  the  call  of 
"fainting  stroke,"  every  girl  fell  back  on  her 

217 


seat  with  a  long,  wailing  sigh  of  exhaustion, 
and  then  with  a  musical  "Whoo-oop"  they 
were  up  and  paddling  again,  before  the  peo- 
ple on  shore  had  time  to  recover  from  their 
astonishment.  This  was  the  special  stroke  of 
the  season,  for  which  "The  Heavenlies,, 
claimed  the  inventor's  patent. 

Six  girls,  with  middies  and  bloomers  over 
their  bathing  suits,  entered  the  contest  for  un- 
dressing in  deep  water,  while  two  others  stood 
on  the  raft  to  receive  their  clothes  and  call  out 
their  names  as  fast  as  they  finished  the  stunt. 
Only  one  failed  to  leave  her  heap  of  wet  gar- 
ments on  the  raft  before  the  contest  was 
closed,  with  Ki-lo-des-ka  the  victor. 

Ki-lo-des-ka  and  Helpful  the  Little  had 
volunteered  to  show  the  tipping  of  a  canoe, 
and,  as  they  did  it,  it  really  seemed  as  easy  as 
rolling  off  the  proverbial  log.  They  splashed 
together,  both  hanging  on  one  side  of  the 
canoe,  working  so  quickly  that  the  water  had 
no  time  to  flow  back.  Then  one  ducked  under 
the  canoe  and  both  jumped  in  from  opposite 
sides  at  the  same  instant,  and  paddled  back  to 
shore. 

The  interrupted  canoe  race  was  between 
four  pairs  at  first,  and  Ta-ku  and  Te-pe,  who 

218 


brought  up  the  rear,  made  fun  for  the  com- 
pany by  calling  out  pleadingly  to  the  others, 
"Wait  for  us!  Wait  for  us!"  and  scolding 
each  other  for  causing  the  delay.  The  race 
was  then  given  again  between  the  two  winning 
pairs,  each  pair  jumping  out  of  the  canoe, 
climbing  in  from  opposite  sides,  and  racing 
back  to  the  dock. 

Every  girl  who  could  swim  under  water, 
and  that  was  about  three-fourths  of  all  in 
camp,  lined  up  for  the  under  water  swim,  each 
starting  as  the  one  ahead  of  her  bobbed  up 
from  the  water.  In  some  cases  that  was  a 
very  short  time,  but  He-wan-ka,  Ki-lo-des-ka 
and  one  or  two  others  swam  out  so  far  that 
the  people  on  shore  held  their  breath  to  watch 
them.  He-wan-ka  explained  afterward  that 
she  had  been  taking  long,  deep  breaths  for 
several  minutes  before  the  contest,  which 
made  her  able  to  swim  much  farther  than  she 
could  otherwise  have  done ! 

"Follow  the  leader"  was  now  in  progress, 
with  Te-pa  at  the  head,  leading  a  merry  race 
through  different  kinds  of  dives,  jumps,  and 
swimming  strokes  about  the  dock.  Then  "The 
Fearless  Four"  came  down  the  dock  in  lock 
step,  and  dove  from  the  springboard  one  after 

2'19 


m  m  m  o  0  m  ss  in 

another,  counting  under  water  so  as  to  come 
up  at  the  same  time.  They  swam  in  several 
strokes,  counting  eight  strokes  each  time  and 
keeping  their  movements  together,  swinging 
around  in  a  pivot  to  bring  themselves  parallel 
to  the  dock  and  climbing  out  together. 

STUNTS  BY  TENTS 

After  this  came  the  tent  stunts,  which  were 
gotten  up  for  entertainment  as  well  as  for  a 
display  of  skill.  "The  Loons"  played  leap- 
frog on  the  dock,  each  one  jumping  in  when 
she  reached  the  edge.  "Heavenly  Rest"  acted 
out  the  Frye's  Leap  tradition  from  the 
"Heavenly  Rock,"  with  a  broad  hat  to  dis- 
tinguish Frye,  and  gay  colored  blankets  to 
mark  the  Indians  in  pursuit,  who  threw  off 
their  blankets  and  jumped  bravely  after  the 
white  man.  "The  Kingfishers"  paddled  out 
in  their  little  canoe  in  comical  imitation  of  the 
war-canoe,  taking  pains  not  to  keep  in  time 
in  a  single  stroke,  and  jumped  overboard,  dis- 
appearing under  their  overturned  canoe,  which 
gave  them  plenty  of  air  to  breathe  while  they 
swam  back  to  shore. 

The  sisters  from  Holland  gave  the  dance 
that  had  won  them  so  much  applause  at  a 

220 


m  gS^AwE°SSS  IIG0SI 


1 

"rlfci 

^^^^ 

•  ^FT^P^ 

77ie  tilting  tournament 


Council  Fire.  Their  wooden  shoes  clumped 
merrily  on  the  dock,  and  their  bright  red  and 
blue  costumes,  with  the  wholesome,  smiling 
faces  above  them,  gave  a  touch  of  gaiety  to  the 
whole  scene.  At  the  end  of  the  dance  one  of 
the  sisters  fell  into  the  water,  wooden  shoes 
and  all,  and  the  other  rescued  her. 

"Niebelungen"  had  a  wheelbarrow  race. 
Two  of  the  girls  were  wheelbarrowed  down 
the  dock  by  the  other  two,  and  before  the  race 
ended  all  four  were  in  the  water.    "Fawassa" 

221 


and  "Top  o'  the  Rocks"  represented  the  camp 
laundry,  which  is  carried  on  by  the  side  of  the 
lake,  but  this  time  it  was  done  with  the  aid  of 
a  "Puffing  Porpoise"  that  rolled  away  through 
the  water  with  middies  to  deliver  to  Ya-ke-ya, 
who  sat  in  a  rowboat  acting  the  part  of  "Siren 
Seaweed,  the  Supersensitive  Soaper,  Scrub- 
ber and  S tardier,"  and  doing  funny  things 
with  a  cardboard  eyeglass,  making  everyone 
laugh. 

"The  Spiders"  had  planned  a  dramatic 
parachute  descent  from  the  shack  rock,  which 
was  accomplished  by  tying  the  corners  of  a 
sheet  together,  two  at  each  end,  and  holding 
one  end  in  each  hand  over  their  heads  while 
they  jumped  off  from  the  rock.  The  wind 
filled  the  parachutes  and  made  the  effect  as 
picturesque  as  they  had  hoped  it  would  be. 
The  people,  who  had  crowded  down  to  watch 
them,  stepped  back  now  as  they  saw  what  was 
happening  at  the  dock  again.  It  was  Wa-zi 
drowning  herself,  but  He-wan-ka,  her  coun- 
cilor, rescued  her  promptly  and  Fuzzie  resus- 
citated her  with  great  self-possession. 

"The  Heavenly  Twins"  had  vied  with  each 
other  in  working  up  their  performance. 
"Heavenly  II"  rendered  "The  Casting  Away 

223 


m  mm  000  ssmssbsb  m 


Ready  for  the  final  plunge 

of  Mrs.  Leeks  and  Mrs.  Alshine,"  the  pair 
who  were  so  well  prepared  for  a  wreck  that 
they  were  able  to  read  while  they  swept  them- 
selves ashore  with  a  broom.  They  reached 
shore,  with  their  graceful  bonnets  and  shawls 
a  trifle  the  worse  for  wear,  but  Te-ca-ya  de- 
clared that  she  would  rather  risk  swimming 
for  her  life  than  floating  on  a  water-soaked 
broom. 

"Heavenly  J"  had  been  seen  before  the 
program  burying  a  variety  of  objects  under 
water  in  the  quiet  space  between  shore  and  the 

224 


0  tg5£»c«  110000 

arm  of  the  dock.  Can-zu  now  sat  on  the  dock 
playing  at  "mother  getting  ready  for  the  par- 
ty," and  sending  her  willing  children  down- 
stairs to  bring  her  a  comb,  the  silver,  and  vari- 
ous other  articles,  including  a  pitcher  of  milk 
for  the  baby,  who  sat  by  her  side  crying  dis- 
gracefully. The  children  dove  obediently,  and 
were  each  rewarded  by  a  banana,  which  they 
ate  under  water. 

The  boys  also  gave  an  imitation  of  the 
Frye's  Leap  episode,  with  Helpful  the  Little 
shaking  too  visibly  with  fear  as  he  made  the 


"All  in! 
225 


perilous  lead.  Then  "The  Chipmunks"  gave 
their  pillow  race,  for  which  Kee-wee,  with 
several  helpers,  had  been  blowing  up  the  pil- 
low cases  which  had  been  soaking  in  the  water 
during  most  of  the  other  acts.  The  race  was 
very  pretty,  but  scarcely  more  exciting  than 
"The  Whippies",  race  that  followed  it,  each 
girl  carrying  an  open  umbrella  while  she 
swam. 

TILTING,  DIVING,  AND  THE  FINAL 
PLUNGE 

It  was  now  near  noontime  and  the  last 
three  acts  followed  in  quick  succession.  First 
came  tilting,  in  which  two  girls  stood  in  the 
ends  of  their  canoes,  each  with  a  long  pole 
well  padded  with  burlap,  and  tried  to  push 
each  other  into  the  water  without  themselves 
sitting  down.  The  girls  who  steered  the 
canoes  were  skilful,  and  the  contests  were  all 
interesting. 

The  diving  was  from  the  shack  rock,  which 
can  be  seen  from  the  dock  without  much  diffi- 
culty. Everyone  who  could  dive  at  all  did 
dive,  and  those  who  could  not  dive  jumped, 
one  after  another.  Some  made  fine,  clean 
dives,  some  made  poor  ones,  and  brave  Ca-du- 

226 


za,  who  had  never  gone  off  from  the  rock  be- 
fore, went  down  with  something  of  uncer- 
tainty. He-ta-ya  distinguished  herself  by  a 
perfect  angel  dive,  for  the  promise  of  the  early 
summer  had  been  fulfilled  and  she  had  become 
a  rival  of  Ki-lo-des-ka  in  difficult  diving. 

The  final  plunge  was  simply  the  usual  fin- 
ish of  the  swimming  hour, — all  the  girls  lined 
up  around  the  dock,  on  the  springboard,  on 
the  box,  on  the  high  springboard,  on  the 
tower,  and  at  a  word  from  Ti-ya-ta  all  went 
in  at  once  with  a  glorious  splash. 

Then  all  gathered  around  to  congratulate 
the  girls,  Hiiteni,  and  Ti-ya-ta,  who  had 
been  in  charge  of  the  day.  Ti-ya-ta  was  happy 
because  she  had  succeeded  in  her  purpose  of 
showing,  not  what  remarkable  things  a  few 
experts  could  do,  but  how  the  majority  of  the 
girls  in  camp  had  advanced  in  mastery  of  the 
water,  in  self-reliance,  and  in  physical  self- 
control  that  forms  the  best  possible  basis  for 
higher  forms  of  development  and  success.  For 
these  are  the  real  purposes  in  the  water  sports 
of  Wohelo. 


To-mo-ker 
227 


XV 

"FIRE'S  GWINE  OUT" 

"Please  keep  watch,  Mammy  Moon, 
De  fires  gwine  out  pretty  soon!" 

the  girls  had  sung  every  Monday  night  at  the 
Council  Fire,  when  the  coals  were  burning 
low;  and  now  the  fire  of  camp  itself  was 
"gwine  out,"  for  this  was  the  very  last  week. 
But  they  did  not  intend  to  let  the  fire  go 
out  without  a  final  blaze  of  glory.  First  of 
all  they  wanted  to  give  a  farce,  something  that 
should  be  just  as  silly  as  they  pleased,  as  an 
outlet  for  feelings  that  were  bubbling  up  more 
and  more  as  their  spirits  reacted  to  glowing 
health.  So  Ce-ki-ca-ti,  with  two  other  coun- 
cilors, wrote  a  farce  for  them,  or,  rather,  out- 
lined the  plot  and  chose  the  characters,  leaving 
the  girls  to  fill  out  the  lines  to  suit  themselves. 
This  plot  will  probably  never  become  famous, 
but  it  was  rich  in  the  local  thrusts  that  seemed 
intensely  funny  at  the  time ;  such,  for  instance, 
as  Ca-du-za,  the  "solemn,  solid  butler,"  an- 

228 


SSftSgESfcS  H  0  n  0  (3  ED 

nouncing  dinner  to  a  fashionable  house  party 
by  blowing  a  toy  bugle,  while  Ta-ku,  as  the 
French  maid,  stood  daintily  holding  his  nose. 
The  boys  of  the  neighboring  camp  were  in- 
vited for  the  entertainment. 

TRANSFORMING  THE  BUNGALOW 

It  seemed  that  no  sooner  were  the  stage 
scenery  and  properties  cleared  away  from  the 
versatile  bungalow,  than  came  the  day  for  the 
craft  exhibit.  It  had  really  been  several  days, 
but  everyone  had  been  too  busy  preparing  for 
the  exhibit  and  the  final  Council  Fire  to  real- 
ize how  time  was  passing. 

Tuesday  afternoon  found  the  craft-house 
a  scene  of  haste  and  anxiety.  On  the  lower 
floor  Loh-ah  was  toiling  with  rare  persistence 
over  a  bracelet  that  would  not  solder,  while 
I-ma-ga-ga  was  fitting  a  besel  for  a  silver 
ring.  The  floor  above  shook  a  little  with  the 
tread  of  those  who  were  practicing  for  a  new 
Camp  Fire  dance  to  be  given  at  the  Council 
Fire.  Out  on  the  porch  were  girls  wood- 
blocking  chiffon  scarfs  of  dainty  tints,  which 
they  were  eager  to  take  home  as  gifts  for 
mother,  sister,  or  friend.  And  just  outside  the 
craft-house  others  were  busy  at  the  dye-pails, 

229 


m  m  m  n  0  @  gs^.s&s  m 

preparing  costumes  for  the  new  dance  which 
was  being  rehearsed.  In  the  midst  of  all  this 
came  a  call  to  come  to  the  tennis  court  in 
ceremonial  costume,  as  the  light  was  just  right 
for  a  photograph  which  Hiiteni  wished  to 
take.  The  photographs  of  camp  are  among 
the  dearest  treasures  of  every  girl,  but  all 
would  have  been  very  willing  just  then  to  be 
photographed  in  their  absence.  The  craft- 
craze  had  them  in  its  grip. 

When  Wednesday's  dinner  began  the  bun- 
galow was  far  from  ready  for  the  craft  ex- 
hibit, which  was  to  begin  at  half  past  three,  but 
many  hands  did  wonders  with  it  during  what 
should  have  been  rest  hour.  They  brought 
ferns  and  great  branches  of  vividly  colored 
leaves  for  decoration,  they  arranged  the  tables 
and  brought  armsful  of  craft  things  to  place 
upon  them,  from  the  little  house  called  "Wa- 
kana  Hit,"  where  they  had  been  accumulating. 
"Wakana  Hit"  had  been  built  for  Timanous 
early  in  the  summer,  but  he  spent  so  little  time 
at  camp  it  had  served  many  other  purposes. 
The  pottery  had  been  standing  here  ever 
since  it  had  been  brought  home  from  its  bak- 
ing oven  in  Boston,  and  here,  too,  Mna-ka 
and  Ya-ke-ya  had  been  busy  over  a  box  which 

230 


m  gsgfi&ssB  n  m  n  0  m  m 

they  decorated  as  a  surprise  for  Hiiteni — but 
she  had  spoiled  it  all  by  walking  in  and  rinding 
them  at  work  one  day. 

THE  CRAFT  EXHIBIT 

Before  the  guests  began  to  arrive  every- 
thing was  in  order.  The  bungalow  had  been 
transformed  into  a  bower  of  autumn  beauty, 
and  the  tables  were  covered  with  wooden 
boxes,  carved  spoons,  tiny  balsam  pillows  in 
boxes  decorated  by  wood-blocking,  silver  work 
of  great  variety,  Count  books,  baskets  and  pot- 
tery. The  weaving  work,  which  was  chiefly  in 
the  form  of  rugs,  was  well  displayed  on  the 
large  benches  around  the  edges  of  the  room, 
while  the  walls  were  hung  with  the  ceremonial 
costumes,  fascinating  in  the  individuality 
shown  in  their  decoration.  The  filmy  scarfs 
fluttering  from  the  tables  gave  a  touch  of 
softer  beauty  to  the  scene.  But  to  the  prac- 
tical eye  there  was  nothing  more  beautiful 
than  the  table  full  of  canned  fruit  which  stood 
in  its  own  place  near  "The  Blue  Birds"  tent, 
brave  with  a  decoration  of  ferns. 

In  fact,  it  was  almost  as  much  of  a  revela- 
tion to  the  girls  as  to  their  guests  to  see  all 
their  work  together  and  realize  how  much  had 

231 


(J 

Eh 


m  ts^^as  u  0  g  0  m  m 


been  done.  They  were  enthusiastic  over  the 
large  box  that  Mna-ka  and  Ya-ke-ya  had  dec- 
orated, and  they  whispered  to  each  other  of 
cedar  chests  which  sometime  in  the  future  they 
would  decorate  with  their  symbols,  as  this  had 
been  decorated.  They  laughed  over  the  rug 
in  which  one  of  the  girls  had  woven  a  lock  of 
auburn  hair  she  had  begged  from  Ca-du-za 
"to  give  just  the  touch  of  sunset  color  she 
wanted,"  and  admired  each  other's  rings  and 
bowls  and  boxes  with  generous  impartiality. 
As  the  Count  said: 

233 


m  m  m  n  0  ®  gsstfs^ss  m 

"Happy  was  the  hum  of  voices, 
Happier  still  the  silent  voices 
Of  the  symbols  of  our  craft  work, 
Speaking  of  our  happy  summer, 
Telling  tales  of  our  ideals, 
Council  fire  and  pleasant  mornings 
When  the  lake  smiled  calmly  at  us, 
And  with  work  our  hands  were  busy." 

After  the  guests  had  fully  complimented 
the  exhibit  they  were  invited  to  the  tennis 
court  for  the  folk  dancing,  in  which  were 
summed  up  the  dances  the  girls  had  learned  in 
their  drills  each  day. 

THE  LAST  COUNCIL  FIRE 

The  girls  came  to  supper  in  their  ceremo- 
nial gowns,  and,  as  the  sun  was  setting  earlier 
each  week,  they  hastened  to  the  rocks  by  the 
water's  edge  for  the  usual  good-night  to  the 
Sun-Mother.  On  this  last  evening  the  sun 
veiled  her  face  with  clouds,  but  they  sang 
to  her  just  the  same,  knowing  she  was 
only  hiding,  and  would  smile  again  another 
day.  Then  they  went  quietly  up  the  hill  to 
the  meeting  place  of  the  fire. 

It  was  an  eventful  Council  Fire  in  several 
ways.    At  noon  that  day  votes  had  been  taken 

234 


3 

a. 


0 


&l  H'gm  B  ©  3&ft&SS3£  0 


on  many  subjects,  some  of  them  funny,  some 
serious;  from  "Who  is  the  prettiest  girl  in 
camp?"  to  "Who  has  the  best  ceremonial  cos- 
tume?" and  "Who  is  the  most  popular?"  The 
answers  to  these  questions  were  to  be  an- 
nounced to  the  circle  about  the  fire,  and  great 
was  the  tension  with  which  they  were  awaited. 
The  nonsensical  ones  had  been  answered  in 
the  spirit  in  which  they  were  asked,  Helpful 
the  Great  being  judged  the  possessor  of  the 
prettiest  ears,  and  "the  best  figure"  being 
given  to  the  stoutest  girl  in  camp,  who  oblig- 
ingly rose  as  awkwardly  as  she  could  at  the 
demand  and  allowed  her  form  to  be  viewed. 
There  was  no  jest,  however,  about  voting 
Ma-na's  simple,  but  well  planned  ceremonial 
gown  the  best,  and  when  it  came  to  the  last-+- 
the  important  question  of  camp  spirit — no 
trifling  had  entered  into  the  matter  at  all. 
Everyone  knew  that  the  buffalo  robe,  with  all 
the  symbols  for  four  summers  past,  would  go 
this  year  to  the  girl  who  had  won  this  vote. 
She  who  won  it  might  well  be  happy,  for  jt 
meant  that  her  leadership  had  been  recognized, 
that  she  had  been  loved  by  all,  and  had  sunk 
her  own  wishes  in  the  doing  of  those  things 
which  were  for  the  general  happiness. 

236 


m  ekf^es  n^Qgifo 

There  was  a  great  cheer  when  the  robe  was 
awarded  to  He-ta-ya,  and  though  it  was  an- 
nounced that  Da-su  the  Twin  had  made  a 
close  second  and  Ma-na  a  third,  there  seemed 
to  be  little  doubt  that  of  all  the  fine,  capable 
girls  of  camp  He-ta-ya,  with  her  skill  in  water 
sports,  her  gift  of  song,  her  power  of  leader- 
ship, had  best  deserved  the  honor.  As  for  He- 
ta-ya,  she  could  say  nothing  when  the  robe  was 
given  her,  but  went  back  to  her  seat  in  the  cir- 
cle shaking  with  sobs. 

After  this  the  water-witches  were  duly  ap- 
pointed by  Ti-ya-ta,  and  the  final  tent  inspec- 
tion report  for  the  summer  was  read.  Then 
the  circle  sang  camp  songs,  while  a  stage  was 
being  made  ready  for  the  Pantomime  of  the 
Seasons,  in  which  every  tent  had  a  part.  The 
stage  was  just  the  little  rise  of  ground  oppo- 
site the  fireplace  and  the  curtain  was  lifted  and 
dropped  by  Helpful  and  To-mo-ke.  Embers, 
who  had  written  the  poem,  read  it  and  directed 
the  action,  with  Little  Daylight  standing  by 
her  side  to  give  the  hand-sign  for  each  moon, 
or  month,  as  it  was  announced.  The  girls  had 
planned  their  own  action  in  most  of  the  scenes, 
and  some  of  it  was  very  amusing,  as  when  the 
Camp  Fire  Girls  were  shown  sowing  seeds  in 

237 


ulbjhlb  0  %ssfig%B&  m 

the  spring  and  the  flowers  (three  girls  hidden 
under  a  blanket)  sprang  up  at  their  bidding, 
or  when  another  group  made  the  sun  rise  by 
lifting  a  lantern  slowly  up  from  behind  a 
poncho. 

"June,  or  the  Rose  Moon,"  was  kept  to  the 
last,  for  this  was  to  be  illustrated  by  the  dance 
for  which  the  girls  had  been  practicing  so  faith- 
fully under  Embers'  direction.  The  purpose 
of  the  dance,  which  had  been  planned  by  To- 
mo-ke,  was  to  express  growth,  and  that  which 
reaches  out  to  others,  then  the  Camp  Fire 
ideals  of  Work,  Health,  and  Love,  expressed 
by  postures  and  motions  full  of  reverence  and 
grace,  and,  last,  the  circling  figures  danced 
the  seven  laws  of  Camp  Fire,  interpreting 
each  with  exquisite  appeal  to  the  imagination. 

The  effect  is  described  in  the  Count  that  was 
written  after  camp  had  closed,  while  the  mem- 
ory of  the  dance  still  clung  with  its  haunting, 
mystic  beauty: 

"Flashed  the  colors,  red,  blue,  yellow, 
In  and  out  among  the  seven  green  — 
White  arms  lifted  up  in  dancing, 
White  feet  glancing,  leaping,  turning, 
While  the  moonlight  and  the  firelight 

238 


Seemed  to  brightly  say  together: 
'By  our  light  we  help  to  show  you 
This  symbolic  dance,  'Wohelo.' ' 

So  the  last  Council  Fire  closed  with  one  of 
the  loveliest  of  the  summer  visions — a  gather- 
ing into  the  poetry  of  motion  the  essence  of 
the  summer's  meaning.  There  was  scarcely 
need  of  good-night  songs  to  bring  the  sense  of 
reverence  and  mystery  which  always  fell  over 
the  circle  before  the  evening  was  at  an  end. 

THE  "KAPICA" 

But  the  prose  of  parting  was  waiting  in 
the  bungalow  next  morning  in  the  form  of 
trunks  to  be  packed,  bundles  of  blankets  to 
be  made  ready — in  short,  all  of  the  work  of 
the  day  of  arrival  to  be  reversed  with  no  less 
excitement  and  bustle.  Breakfast  was  served 
on  the  hillside,  for  the  bungalow  was  still  in 
the  sway  of  the  craft  exhibit,  and  after  break- 
fast there  was  a  long  wait  while  pictures  were 
taken  of  that  same  craft  work  in  all  its  splen- 
dor. But  when  the  anxious  packers  were  ad- 
mitted everything  speedily  dropped  from  the 
walls  and  jumped  from  the  tables  into  the 
trunks  which  were  brought  from  the  loft. 

239 


Only  the  councilors  had  a  thought  for  any- 
thing but  packing.  They  had  been  seen  mak- 
ing mysterious  visits  to  the  tennis  court,  and 
soon  the  secret  crept  out — there  was  to  be  a 
banquet!  It  was  the  first  time  in  the  history 
of  camp  that  such  a  thing  had  happened,  and 
they  called  it  the  first  annual  "Kapica,"  an  In- 
dian word  which  signifies  that  the  people  who 
are  attending  the  feast  simply  cannot  bear  to 
be  separted. 

The  tables  were  set  in  a  circle  on  the  court, 
with  flaming  leaf  branches  arching  over  where 
two  tables  met,  and  glowing  Japanese  lan- 
terns hanging  between  the  branches.  At  the 
middle  of  the  first  table  stood  a  large  chair, 
much  decorated,  waiting  for  Hiiteni.  When 
the  bugle  sounded  all  met  at  the  bungalow  and 
marched  to  the  tennis  court  with  their  hands 
on  each  other's  shoulders.  At  the  end  of  each 
course  they  left  their  places,  marched  around 
to  music  and  sat  down  when  the  music 
stopped,  in  "going-to-Jerusalem"  style. 

Clever  menus,  made  on  rough  gray  paper 
with  wood-blocked  decorations,  were  at  the 
places,  and  the  names  of  the  dishes  written  on 
them  sounded  exceedingly  foreign — so  much 
so  that  they  almost  defied  translation. 

240 


Once  or  twice  during  each  course  Ce-ki- 
ca-ti  rose  and  announced  that  Hiiteni  had  a 
speech  to  make,  which  surprised  Hiiteni  as 
much  as  anyone.  But  she  really  had  several 
things  to  say  and  gifts  to  give,  which  she  did 
from  time  to  time.  There  were  fire-making 
sets  for  the  girls  who  had  learned  to  make  fire 
in  the  primitive  way,  Wohelo  symbols  to  wear 
on  headbands  or  sweaters  for  the  girls  who  had 
excelled  in  various  crews,  etc.,  so  that  before 
the  evening  was  over  many  maidens  were  made 
both  happy  and  proud.  A  silver  Wohelo  sym- 
bol was  presented  to  He-ta-ya,  for  the  buf- 
falo robe  could  be  kept  for  but  one  year,  while 
this  simple  token  of  the  honor  which  had  been 
given  to  her  was  her  very  own,  to  be  treasured 
'  'forever." 

After  the  feast  Ce-ki-ca-ti  called  on  each 
of  the  councilors  for  a  speech,  and  the  coun- 
cilors altogether  retaliated  by  calling  upon 
Ce-ki-ca-ti  for  '  a  few  remarks,"  which  she 
made  in  her  own  inimitable  way,  to  the  delight 
of  everyone.  Then  Hiiteni  was  made  to  climb 
up  on  a  table,  which  the  girls  carried  round 
and  round  the  tennis  court,  singing  to  her  out 
of  their  very  hearts  the  only  camp  song  that 
in  any  degree  expressed  their  feeling  for  the 

242 


one  to  whom,  first  of  all,  their  summers  hap- 
piness was  due : 

TO  HIITEXI 

"On  Sebago's  sparkling  waters 
There's  a  band  of  Indian  maids. 
They  are  all  Wokanda's  daughters, 
And  good  cheer  there  never  fades." 

Chorus : 

"It  is  our  Camp  Wohelo, 
It  is  our  dear  camp  home, 
And  'tis  there  that  every  summer 
We  so  long  to  live  and  roam. 

"We  love  our  Indian  mother, 
And  we  know  she  loves  us,  too; 
May  Wohelo  live  forever, 
And  to  her  we'll  e'er  be  true." 

Hiiteni  laughed  a  little  at  finding  herself 
carried  so  high  in  the  air,  but  her  eyes  were 
wet  when  at  last  she  was  lowered  and  helped 
down  from  her  somewhat  precarious  position. 
Every  tribute  of  appreciation  and  gratitude 
paid  to  her  by  her  girls  touched  her  mother — 
heart  deeply. 

243 


a  u  n  h  ®  sMsarass  in 

"UNTIL  ANOTHER  SUMMER" 

Sleep  came  slowly  that  night,  and  to  some 
scarcely  at  all.  "The  Heavenlies"  sat  up  a  long 
time,  loth  to  miss  a  minute  when  they  could  be 
together,  and  the  girls  in  each  of  the  different 
tents  might  be  found  clinging  close  to  each 
other,  realizing,  on  this  last  night,  that  what- 
ever happy  days  another  summer  might  bring, 
this  summer  could  never  come  again!  But 
all  rose  easly,  and,  dressed  in  those  dread- 
ful city  clothes,  ate  a  hurried  breakfast, 
finished  writing  in  everyone's  address  book, 
looked  after  tags  on  trunks,  and  at  last 
stood  waiting  for  the  boat,  looking  more  and 
more  disconsolate  every  minute.  Then  Ce-ki- 
ca-ti  suggested  going  to  the  craft-house  to  sing. 

It  was  a  solemn  little  procession  that  went 
to  the  familiar  place,  now  strangely  desolate. 
They  sang  the  songs  that  had  so  many  times 
stirred  them  to  laughter,  and  then  drifted  into 
the  serious  ones,  saying  to  themselves  over  and 
over,  "The  last  time,  the  last  time!"  To-he-ca, 
supposedly  one  of  the  most  irresponsible  chil- 
dren of  camp,  wept  in  the  corner  without  re- 
proof, and  I-ma-ga-ga,  who  had  cried  herself 
nearly  ill  with  homesickness  when  she  first 
came  to  camp,  sat  weeping  now  for  the  leav- 

244 


m  firsts  u  m  n  0  m  m 

ing  it.  Perhaps  others  wanted  to  cry,  too.  It 
had  been  a  happy  summer,  and  this  was  in- 
deed "The  last  time." 

The  boat  came,  and  those  who  were  to  re- 
main in  camp  for  a  little  while  longer  went 
down  to  the  dock  to  sing  a  good-by  cheer. 
Ki-lo-des-ka  slipped  on  the  boat  with  the  de- 
parting maidens,  and  when  they  had  gone  a 
little  way  from  dock  made  a  dive  from  the 
bridge  of  the  boat,  while  the  little  group  on 
shore  kept  things  waving,  black  middie  ties, 
then  towels  and  sheets,  as  long  as  the  boat  was 
in  sight.  The  girls  afterward  sent  back  an 
amusing  Count  of  their  homeward  trip,  by 
which  Hiiteni  knew  that  not  a  good-by  wave 
had  been  wasted,  and  that  under  Ti-ya-ta's 
care  the  girls  had  reached  home  safely. 

Later  came  a  happy  sequel  when  the  let- 
ters began  to  arrive,  some  from  the  mothers, 
telling  how  happy  they  were  over  all  that  the 
summer  had  done  for  their  daughters,  some 
from  the  girls  themselves,  full  of  love  and 
gratitude,  of  the  new  vigor  gained  for  the  days 
and  the  years  that  lay  before  them,  and  plans 
for  returning  when  summer  should  come 
again. 

The  little  white  tents  seemed  empty  in- 

245 


0IIG0  ®  gBtf^BS  13 

deed  to  those  who  were  left  behind,  and  soon 
they,  too,  packed  their  trunks  and  their  mem- 
ories and  sped  cityward,  leaving  the  camping 
place  by  the  lakeside  alone  with  its  dreams 
and  its  stillness,  until,  when  another  year  has 
come,  when  the  winter  snows  are  melted  and 
the  woods  and  lake  are  bright  with  summer 
sunshine,  the  Call  of  the  Camp  shall  be  heard, 
and  its  tents  again  be  filled  with  laughter. 


A 


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SYMBOLIC  NAMES  OF  SEBAGO- 
WOHELO  CAMP  FIRE  GIRLS 

Ca-du-za  Strong  Current. 

Can-zu  To  be  firm  of  heart. 

Ce-ki-ca-ti  To  make  fire  for  someone, 

Da-su,  To  finish. 

Dis-ya-di  Moon   child. 

Ek-o-le-la  To  continue  to  grow. 

Embers  Fire   dreams. 
Fuzzie  (A  "Blue  Bird") 

Ga-ob  Spirit  of  the  wind. 

Ge-me-wun-ac  Bird  that  flies   through  the  rain. 

He-ta-ya  Against  wind  or  current. 

He-wan-ka  To  brood  over. 

Hiiteni  Life,  more  life. 

Ho-sa  Little   Crow    {chosen  "just   caws") 

I-kan-ya-dan  Keep  near  to. 

I-ma-ga-ga  To  enliven;  cheer,  amuse. 

Kani-da-ka  A  lover  of  nature. 

Kee-wee  Rainbow  maid. 

Ki-lo-des-ka  Water-bird. 

Loh-ah  Reaching  toward  the  sun. 

Ma-na  Grow  like  the  green  pine. 

Mna-ka  To  weave. 

>s'i-ma-ba  Misty-water. 

Pi-ki-da  To  be  glad. 

Su-ni  To  do  more  than  is  required. 

248 


m  ffiffi&°%&  HS000 


Su-no-wa 

Sun  on  the  water;  friends,  music, 
happiness. 

Ta-ku 

Gift. 

Ta-o 

Singer. 

Te-ca-ya 

To  make  new. 

Te-pa 

White  wings. 

Timanous 

The   guiding   spirit. 

Ti-ya-ta 

Love  of  home. 

To-he-ha 

Humming  bird — finding  the  good  in 
everybody. 

To-ka 

First  to  come. 

To-mo-kc 

Lightning  thought. 

Wa-han-ka 

To  do  difficult  things  well. 

Wan-ye-ca 

Firefly. 

Wa-ya-ka 

See  beauty. 

Wa-zi   (A  ' 

'Blue  Bird") 

AVoh-do-ke- 

ca 

Skilful  artist. 

Wa-ye-ka 

A  story  teller. 

Loh-ah 


249 


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